Mitsubishi announces 62% combined cycle efficiency in 60 Hz

The Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA) has dedicated Unit 3 at its Grand River Energy Center in Oklahoma, a 505-megawatt combined cycle power plant equipped with a Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) M501J advanced class gas turbine. It is the first J-Series turbine produced at the MHPS Savannah Machinery Works and the first to be operational in the Americas.

Paul Browning, President and CEO of MHPS Americas, said: "We’re proud to announce that the first J-Series in the Americas beat our performance guarantee and achieved 62% combined cycle efficiency.”

The MHPS turbine was delivered on time to the site, successfully achieved First Fire on March 14, in its first attempt, and only two days later synchronized to the grid to first produce electricity for GRDA and Southwest Power Pool customers. The commissioning team achieved this contract milestone 35 days of ahead of the June 1st contract deadline. During the smooth startup process, the M501J turbine exceeded its performance guarantee and GRDA was able to sell power to the grid ahead of schedule.

The debut of the M501J in the Americas at GRDA was also accompanied with:

Uncorrected net output reached 505MW, 102% of the guaranteed value

100% Starting Reliability since entering Loaded Operation

The MHPS combustion turbine installed at the Grand River Energy Center is paired in combined cycle with an MHPS steam turbine. Both units also feature generators from Mitsubishi Electric Company. As part of the project, GRDA signed a 25-year long term service agreement with MHPS that included MHPS-TOMONI digital solutions. This is the J-Class gas turbine enabled with MHPS-TOMONI features, supporting power generation assets, optimizing O&M, providing flexible operations, and improving reliability.

GRDA’s new M501J was dedicated just days after another MHPS J-Series turbine began commercial operation in South Korea. And, the 26 MHPS J-Series turbines in commercial operation are fast approaching 500,000 operating hours. MHPS continues to have the largest installed fleet of Advanced Class Gas Turbines worldwide with an unmatched record of reliability exceeding 99.5%.