Mitsubishi Power Installs Turbine Reliability Package at Damhead Creek Station

Mitsubishi Power successfully installed its Upgraded Reliability Package (URP) for VPI Energy’s 812-MW gas turbine combined-cycle (GTCC) power plant at Damhead Creek Power Station in Kent, England. The package includes an upgrade for the turbine control system and elements to improve start-up response, performance, and reliability at Damhead Creek’s natural gas-fired facility.

The package’s efficiency and reliability upgrades are important for gas turbines, especially since gas-fired power plants are increasingly leveraged as flexible assets to support intermittent renewable energy. This flexibility shift is taking place in the United Kingdom, with high amounts of renewable penetration forcing plants to frequently start and stop generation according to system requirements.

“In today’s power grid, GTCCs are crucial—not only for keeping the lights on for homes and businesses, but also for the scale-up of renewable energy by delivering flexible and reliable power generation,” said Javier Cavada, President and CEO for Europe, Middle East, and Africa at Mitsubishi Power. “There is no renewable energy without thermal generation providing the reliability, flexibility, and security of supply.”

Mitsubishi Power originally delivered gas turbines for the Damhead Creek GTCC plant in 2000 and, after purchasing the plant in 2021, VPI Energy signed a service agreement with Mitsubishi Power to improve the site’s efficiency and reliability via a major investment. The broader service agreement includes maintenance, management, parts supply, and remote monitoring services for Damhead’s gas turbines, in addition to delivering the URP.

“This evolved role for gas-fired generation is critical but also places significant stress on GTCC plants generally and on the gas turbines specifically,” said Cavada. “The completion of the Upgraded Reliability Package at Damhead Creek will ensure that the plant is able to deliver power to homes in a more efficient and more reliable way for years to come, and in doing so, will ensure a more sustainable grid by supporting the integration of more renewable energy sources.”

The Damhead Creek Power Station was commissioned in 2001 and provides flexible power for southeast England on the Hoo Peninsula. Currently, the station serves approximately 1.1 million households and is owned and operated by VPI Energy.

Ammonia Partnership

Earlier this week, the Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) inked a new research agreement to extend a long-term partnership concerning the exploration of ammonia-based clean power generation in Indonesia; specifically, accelerating research on ammonia-based fuel applications. The new agreement furthers research into ammonia combustion, with a primary focus on understanding how ammonia may be applied safely and effectively in gas turbine systems.

The continued collaboration between ITB, MHI, and its power solutions brand, Mitsubishi Power, will reinforce the technical knowledge required to support practical ammonia usage in power generation, in addition to satisfying Indonesia’s long-term decarbonization goals: net-zero emissions by 2060.The initial research collaboration was forged in 2020 via a memorandum of understanding, focusing on next-generation clean energy solutions and analyzing large-scale data sets from Indonesian power plants.Their partnership was previously extended in 2022 and progressed through numerous research initiatives focused on ammonia-fired power generation.