Alba Chairman visits Mitsubishi Heavy Industries facilities in Japan

Tokyo, July 3 (BNA): Chairman of Aluminum Bahrain (Alba) Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa visited Takasago Machinery Works and the hydrogen complex of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.

“We are very excited to see JAC’s Advanced Gas Turbines (GT), the world’s first GT being built for the primary aluminum smelter, ready to be shipped to Bahrain for Alba’s Power Station 5 (PS5) 4 project,” said Al Shaikh. Duaij.

The Chairman of Alba’s Board of Directors led the company’s delegation, which consisted of Ali Al-Baqali, Chief Executive Officer, and Amin Sultan, Head of the Energy Sector.

The visit included a stop at MHI headquarters in Tokyo to discuss matters of mutual interest to include Block 4 of Power Plant 5 as well as potential areas of collaboration such as sustainable technologies that are currently part of MHI’s portfolios and Mitsubishi Power’s power solutions brand. .

The Alba delegation met with Toshiyuki Hashi, Executive Vice President, President and CEO, Power Systems, Takashi Tozawa, Senior Fellow, Senior General Manager, Power Systems Business Division of GTCC, and other business managers of GTCC.

“We are pleased with the progress on schedule of the $265 million PS5 Block 4 Expansion Project, which, once completed in Q4 2024, will be a turnaround in Alba’s ESG journey, reducing its total greenhouse gas emissions. Thermal energy, thus setting the standard in terms of requirements for sustainable and efficient power generation in the aluminum industry.”

“We are also proud to have achieved a safety record of 712,790 safe man-hours without wasted time so far (as of July 2) on this project,” he added.

Alba’s PS5 Block 4 Expansion Project is the addition of a fourth block of similar 1:1:1 configuration with a 680.9 megawatt (MW) M701JAC combined cycle gas turbine and includes a tie-in to the existing 220 kV substation. Once operational in the fourth quarter of 2024, Square 4 will increase the PS5’s collector panel capacity from 1,800MW to 2,481MW and lower its overall greenhouse gas emission intensity by 0.5x, supporting the company in its race to decarbonise.

“As leaders in clean, hydrogen-ready power generation technology, MHI is proud to introduce the latest developments to support Alba’s goals of ensuring reliable and efficient power supplies, while continuing to enhance operational excellence and productivity,” said Toshiyuki.

“Together, we are leading the industry into a decarbonized future with clean energy solutions that not only reduce environmental impact, but also pave the way for a sustainable and prosperous tomorrow. This visit strengthens our partnership and reinforces our commitment to support our industrial partners to accelerate the energy transition especially in hard-to-mitigate sectors.” .

MHI’s Takasago Machinery Works is a unique facility for the manufacturing of Mitsubishi Power’s state-of-the-art gas turbines. To ensure the reliability and performance of the Advanced Series gas turbines, they are subjected to rigorous, long-term testing and verification under the same conditions as those of the actual power plant at Mitsubishi Power’s ultra-modern, grid-connected T-Point 2 facility. The co-located Takasago Hydrogen Park is the first center in the world to check hydrogen-related technologies, from hydrogen production to power generation.

HF