Mitsubishi Power (MP) finished 2020 with the highest market share for large frame gas turbines in the Americas, according to McCoy Power Reports, a power-industry market data service. The company’s sales totaled 3288 MW, 54% of total orders in the region. More than half MP’s 2020 orders include a hydrogen performance guarantee or have a joint development agreement for hydrogen in progress.
The company says among its orders are the industry’s first combined-cycle gas turbines that will operate on 30% green hydrogen by their commercial operating dates. They will emit at least 11% less CO2, in pounds per megawatt-hour, than engines not so equipped.
Mitsubishi Power also claimed the No. 1 market-share position in the Americas last year with orders for 151,000-MWh of energy-storage capacity of all durations. The all-duration category covers utility-scale and behind-the-meter technologies—including battery, pumped hydro, and green hydrogen storage. The company provides both long-duration green hydrogen storage systems and short-duration battery energy-storage systems to meet the decarbonization needs of power-generation and grid customers.
An example of the former is the 840-MW Intermountain Power Project in Delta, Utah, which will have two JAC gas-turbine power islands guaranteed to burn a mixture of 70% natural gas and 30% green hydrogen when commercial service begins in 2025. The companion Advanced Clean Energy Storage Project in Delta will use renewable power and electrolysis to produce green hydrogen that will be retained in a salt cavern. It will store enough renewable fuel to produce 150,000 MWh.
Short-duration lithium-ion-based energy storage provides multiple services in power markets—including dispatchable peak capacity, firming of intermittent renewable resources, ancillary services, energy price arbitrage, and T&D congestion solutions. Mitsubishi Power received orders for 920 MWh of short-duration capacity in 2020—all scheduled for commercial service this year.
Recent gas-turbine project developments include the following:
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- Entergy Texas Inc’s 993-MW Montgomery County Power Station, powered by two Mitsubishi Power 501GAC engines, began commercial operation Jan 1, 2021, bringing the number of G-series units in service worldwide to 94.
- El Paso Electric orders a 228-MW Smart M501GAC enhanced-response gas turbine, allowing the company to triple its renewable-energy portfolio and reduce carbon emissions. The SmartER machine complements renewable-energy resources by starting up and shutting down rapidly to accommodate intermittent generation.
- Capital Power orders two M501JAC gas turbines to repower its Genesee Units 1 and 2 in Alberta, Canada, from coal to natural gas. The upgraded facility will produce 1360 MW (net), with carbon-emissions intensity decreasing by approximately 60%. Power producer’s goal for Genesee is to be off coal in 2023.
- Alabama Power selects a Mitsubishi JAC power island for a 720-MW combined cycle being installed at its Barry Power Plant.
- Mitsubishi Power ships the first JAC gas turbine manufactured in the US to the 1200-MW Jackson Generation project in Elwood, Ill. Commercial operation is scheduled in 2022. The plant is designed with two 1 × 1 power trains to provide efficient, flexible generation to complement power production from renewables resources, in addition to reducing the state’s dependence on coal. By the end of 2020, more than 80 J-series gas turbines had been ordered for service in nine countries.
