Two Mitsubishi Power advanced-class gas turbines were delivered to the Intermountain Power Project Renewed (IPP Renewed) facility in Delta, Utah, marking a significant milestone in the project’s development, according to Mitsubishi and the Intermountain Power Agency.
The 694,000 pound turbines, which were manufactured in Takasago, Japan, arrived at the facility on June 8 and July 21. With their delivery, “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,” said Cameron Cowan, general manager of Intermountain Power Agency.
IPP Renewed is a sweeping project that involves the retirement of a coal plant that currently exists on the site, to be replaced with new natural gas generating units that are also capable of running on hydrogen. The upgrade will modernize the transmission system that links the project to Southern California, and build out hydrogen production and storage capacity. The new facility will eventually use renewable energy to produce hydrogen via electrolysis, which will be stored in underground salt caverns, until needed to run turbines and generate electricity.
The IPP Renewed project is expected to come into operation in 2025 with a 30% hydrogen fuel blend, with the eventual aim of ramping that up to 100% hydrogen by 2045. The project will provide 840 MW of net generation output and its developers expect that the blend of natural gas and hydrogen will reduce carbon emissions by more than 75% of its current operations.
The project “demonstrates that bringing together the right partners with the right capabilities supports essential renewable energy infrastructures emergence and moves the country further along the path to net-zero emissions,” said Bill Newsom, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Power Americas.
The turbines are major components of the IPP Renewed project, and their on-time deliveries are allowing construction to continue on schedule, said John Ward, a spokesman for the Intermountain Power Agency. While the turbines are commercially guaranteed for 30% hydrogen blending at start-up, achieving 100% hydrogen by 2045 is a goal that will require additional technology developments that are under way, according to Ward.
Mitsubishi Power has also partnered with Magnum Development to build an advanced clean energy storage project, called the ACES Delta hub, next to the IPP project. The facility will use electrolyzers, powered by renewable energy, to produce hydrogen that will then be stored in two underground salt caverns, each with an estimated capacity of 150,000 MWh. It will feed hydrogen to the IPP Renewed project.
Last June, the ACES project received a $504.4 million loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy, the first for a new clean energy technology issued by the agency’s Loan Programs Office since 2014.
Both the IPP Renewed and ACES Delta construction processes are on schedule and anticipated to enter commercial service in mid-2025, Ward said.
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