Combined Cycle

Grand River Dam Authority Completes First Fire of New Turbine Type

The utility fired the 495-MW combined-cycle power plant at the Grand River Energy Center in Oklahoma on the first attempt.

By Editors of Power Engineering

The Grand River Dam Authority has successfully completed the first fire of the first Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems J-Series turbine in North America.

The utility fired the 495-MW combined-cycle power plant at the Grand River Energy Center in Oklahoma on the first attempt March 14. Full speed no load tests were conducted the same day and the unit was synchronized to the grid and produced its first electricity for GRDA and MISO Power Pool customers two days later. All steam blows for the plant were completed ahead of schedule.

“The Grand River Dam Authority approached MHPS with an ambitious challenge. They wanted to build the most efficient combined cycle power plant in the United States,” said Paul Browning, MHPS Americas president and CEO. “We were excited to partner with GRDA because the MHPS J-Series is up to the task. MHPS is the leader in Advanced Class Gas Turbine technology and the J-Series sets the standard for efficiency and reliability that the rest of the industry is chasing.”

The MHPS turbine installed at Grand River Energy Center is the first J-Series to be built at the Savannah Machinery Works in Savannah, Georgia and was delivered ahead of schedule. It is paired  with a steam turbine that was built at the MHPS Nagasaki Works in Japan. The unit also features a generator from Mitsubishi Electric Co., and GRDA signed a 25-year long term service agreement with MHPS for the system.

“We’re thrilled to partner with GRDA to help them achieve their goals as we shipped the first J-Series gas turbine from our Georgia manufacturing facility and brought the first J-Series turbine online in the U.S.,” Browning said. “We deliver our proven products on time, they work right the first time, they meet performance guarantees, and they are highly reliable. This is what distinguishes us in the industry.”

GRDA broke ground on Grand River Energy Center Unit 3 in January 2015 to replace an older coal-fired generator on the same site. The move should reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 60 percent.

The new power plant is on schedule to be fully operational this summer.

When the Grand River Energy Center unit reaches commercial operations it will become the 24th MHPS J-Series turbine to become operational after it was first commercialized in 2013. Another 25 are being manufactured or have been delivered to power plants under construction, including an additional site in North America.

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