Mitsubishi Power, part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, (MHI), and the SEPCOIII consortium have signed a full turnkey contract with Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) to expand Power Station 5 at Alba, adding a new 680.9 megawatts (MW) combined cycle gas turbine power block.

Under the terms of the contract, Mitsubishi Power and SEPCOIII consortium will be responsible to design, engineer, procure, construct and commission the power block.

Mitsubishi Power will supply a combined cycle power unit, which comprises a M701JAC gas turbine, an air-cooled version of J-series gas turbines and a steam turbine, generators, and auxiliaries, in addition to providing technical support, with commercial operations set to begin in Q4 2024.

The fourth block into Power Station 5 will bring its power output to more than 2.4 gigawatts (GW).

Commenting on the agreement signed last month, Shaikh Daij Al Khalifa, Chairman of Alba’s Board of Directors, said: "Investing in efficient gas turbine, our latest ambitious power project, will accelerate our ESG transition and enable Alba to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as we embrace Bahrain’s objectives to reach net-zero by 2060.

Introduced nearly a decade ago, the J-series gas turbines, which are Mitsubishi Power’s largest and most advanced, deliver an unmatched combination of 99.6 per cent reliability and greater than 64 per cent efficiency.

The fleet has logged more than 1.7 million operating hours globally.

The gas turbine’s industry-leading operational flexibility will enable Alba to continue securing highly efficient and reliable power.

To meet future decarbonisation needs globally, JAC gas turbines are capable of using up to 30 per cent hydrogen fuel by volume, to reach 100 per cent hydrogen fuel in the future with minimal existing infrastructure modification.

Hideshi Kawamoto, President and CEO, Mitsubishi Power and Senior Fellow, Deputy Head of Energy Transition and Power Headquarters of Energy Systems, MHI, said: Working with our partners, SEPCOIII, we are committed to help Alba, the world’s largest aluminium smelter ex-China, meet its operational efficiency and decarbonisation goals, with our hydrogen-ready J-series gas turbine technology that leads the world in efficiency and reliability."