Mitsubishi Power delivers hydrogen-ready gas turbines to project in Utah, US

Two M501JAC advanced-class gas turbines have been delivered to the site and are awaiting installation and onsite testing before starting full operation in 2025. The first unit arrived on 8 June 2023 and the second on 21 July 2023.

Manufactured at Mitsubishi Power’s facility in Takasago, Japan, delivery to Delta, US, was a complex logistical undertaking. The high performance units began the journey via ship, transferring in Long Beach, California, US to Apex, Nevada, US, before arriving in Utah, US. The journey covered approximately 5877 miles in 30 days.

The IPP Renewed project gas turbines will utilise 30% hydrogen fuel at start-up in 2025, with a goal of achieving 100% hydrogen by 2045 and ultimately resulting in dispatchable carbon-free utility-scale power generation. This blend of natural gas and hydrogen will reduce carbon emissions by more than 75% when compared to IPP’s present operations. Once installed and in operation, the turbines will deliver 840 MW of net generation output. Mitsubishi Power will pro-vide service and maintenance for the gas turbines under a 20-year long-term service agreement. The Industrial Company, a subsidiary of Kiewit, is the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project.

In 2019, Mitsubishi Power, in partnership with Magnum Develop-ment, announced plans to develop the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project (ACES Delta hub), located adjacent to the IPP. The ACES Delta hub is a utility-scale renewable energy hub that will produce, store, and deliver green hydrogen to the Western US. A pipe-line from the ACES Delta hub will feed the IPP Renewed project with hydrogen to operate the J-Class turbines. The ACES Delta hub will use renewable energy-powered electrolysers to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen will be stored in two underground salt caverns, each the size of the Empire State Building, capable of holding 150 000 MWh of clean energy. It would take more than 80 000 shipping containers of lithium-ion batteries to produce the equivalent MWh of energy that one hydrogen salt cavern can store.

Cameron Cowan, General Manager of the Intermountain Power Agency, said, "With the delivery of these two highly flexible J-Class gas turbines from Mitsubishi Power, the IPP Renewed project is well on its way to becoming a beacon of innovation, paving the way for a cleaner, dispatchable energy footprint in the region.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalhydrogenreview.com/hydrogen/28072023/mitsubishi-power-delivers-hydrogen-ready-gas-turbines-to-project-in-utah-us/