POWER January 2011 - 46

POWER VIEWS
Mitsubishi Looks to HighEfficiency
Combustion and
Wind Turbines in 2011
Bill Newsom-vice president, sales & marketing, Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas
Inc.-talks about taking the long view with the company's U.S. investments.
M
itsubishi serves the Western Hemisphere
with " versatile power generation
technologies, performance-defining
innovations, and responsive service capabilities "
across all the generation technologies.
Peltier: What innovations in the
company's 2011 product line
should we expect?
Newsom: Mitsubishi continues to develop
industry-leading technologies to support the
power generation market. These technologies
make up our broad product portfolio that includes
nuclear power, renewable energy, as well
as hydrocarbon-based generation. For the next
decade, our product line focuses on sustainable
power generation, emphasizing the lowest
environmental impact possible. Our new
J-Series combustion turbines in combined-cycle
mode when firing natural gas will reach a net
efficiency in excess of 61%. This product is the
backbone of our sustainability approach to the
power market with considerable reduction of
CO2 emissions as well as drastic reductions in
energy discharge to traditional heat sinks such
as lakes and rivers. Larger size and higher-efficiency
wind turbines and concentrated solar
power are also being offered and complemented
with lithium ion battery energy-storing capabilities
to compensate periods when renewable
generation is not available.
Mitsubishi continues to advance combustion
turbine technology with our recent announcement
that in February 2011 we will begin operation
of the 60-Hz " J-Series " turbine at our
in-house combined-cycle validation plant (TPoint)
in our Japan-based Takasago Machinery
Works. This new gas turbine features the
world's largest power generation capacity and
highest thermal efficiency in the 1,600C turbine
inlet temperature class. T-Point provides a
unique advantage to Mitsubishi, allowing us to
test and prove new gas and steam turbine technologies
prior to them entering the commercial
market. T-Point had previously conducted verification
testing and commercial operation of our
G-Series combustion turbines for more than 13
years. The original M501G unit was removed in
mid-November and is being replaced with the
January 2011 | POWER
M501J. The 60-Hz model will produce about
320 MW in simple-cycle mode and 460 MW in
a combined cycle. A combined-cycle plant built
around the new J-Series gas turbine will produce
CO2 emissions approximately 50% lower
than conventional coal-fired power generation.
This past October, we completed the
140,000-square-foot first phase of our new $325
million/500,000-square-foot Savannah Machinery
Works that produces combustion system
components for our gas turbines located around
the world, with more than half of the parts produced
exported back to Japan. The second phase
of the construction project, which will add an additional
72,000 square feet of production space
to the site, will feature extensive capability to
support turbine rotor services, rotor balancing,
valve, and other large component repairs as well
as upgrades for gas and steam turbines. The third
and final phase will add a facility to manufacture
and assemble the next generation of highefficiency,
low-emission gas turbines.
We are additionally building a new wind turbine
manufacturing plant located in Arkansas
that will fabricate turbine nacelles. The plant,
with an initial annual production capacity of
600 MW (250 units of our 2.4 MW wind turbine)
is expected to begin operation in the second
half of 2011. Since delivering its first wind
turbine in 1980, Mitsubishi has established itself
as Japan's largest wind turbine manufacturer.
To date, we have delivered more than 3,500
units to the U.S. market. Vientek, a joint venture
between Mitsubishi and TPI Composites,
operates two wind blade manufacturing plants
in Mexico and has produced more than 5,000
wind turbine blades to date.
Peltier: The global economic and
financial crisis that reduced power
demand and tightened credit
caused markets for large power generation
equipment to hit rock bottom.
How did your company fare?
Newsom: This has been tough market situation
for power generation equipment manufacturers;
but during this time Mitsubishi elected to
invest in the U.S. infrastructure, which creates
new jobs and facilities to increase our local supwww.powermag.com
port
as well as offset currency risk. In the long
term, nuclear power offers a well-known alternative
to reduce CO2 generation; however, in
the shorter term, numerous old coal generation
facilities need to be replaced with high-efficiency
combined cycles firing natural gas. Offshore
wind is getting a lot of attention in Europe while
carbon capture and sequestration is still under
development and will probably take several
years to reach economic viability.
The biggest road block is financial and regulatory
uncertainty. The U.S. electricity demand
will rebound in this coming decade. The renewed
appetite for power, together with environmental
considerations, will induce a large number of
projects needed to modernize the existing generation
capacity. Mitsubishi is heavily investing
in manufacturing and assembly capabilities
in the U.S. to favorably position itself for this
expected rebound in project development and
execution. These investments started roughly 10
years ago, and Mitsubishi has invested almost
$600 million to increase our U.S.-based manufacturing
footprint.
Peltier: How have recent lower
gas prices affected your company's
sales today, and what are
your plans should the price of
natural gas rise?
Newsom: The low natural gas prices and reduced
volatility combined with the relatively
lower total cost of ownership and product
maturity of gas-fired generation have triggered
numerous negotiations for near-term
combined-cycle installations. It is unknown
how the price will change in the next decade;
however, the potential definition of carbon
tax could certainly induce considerable shifts
in the cost of generation, reducing the effect
of the natural gas prices. Given the current
uncertain market conditions, it appears that
in the next 10 years the most prevalent newbuild
solution will be natural gas-fired combined
cycles.
Peltier: What is your company's
perspective on the China and
India markets?
45
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POWER January 2011

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