Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 58 No. 1 (March 2021)
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Validation Results of 1650°C Class JAC Gas Turbine atT-point 2 Demonstration Plant

KAZUKI MORIMOTO*1 YOSHIKAZU MATSUMURA*2
TAKAYOSHI IIJIMA*1 SUSUMU WAKAZONO*3
MASAHITO KATAOKA*4 MASANORI YURI*5

Renewable energy has become more widespread in recent years. On the other hand, however,since the power supply capacity of renewable energy is not stable, the importance of gas turbine
combined cycle (GTCC) power generation has further increased. For higher GTCC efficiency, ahigher temperature of the gas turbine is important. Mitsubishi Power, Ltd. (Mitsubishi Power)
developed the high-efficiency M501J gas turbine, which attained the world’s first turbine inlet
temperature of 1600°C, utilizing the development results from the “1700°C class UltrahighTemperature Gas Turbine Component Technology Development” national project in which it has
participated since 2004. We have since steadily accumulated operating results. At T-point 2 inJanuary 2020, we started test operation of the next-generation 1650°C class JAC gas turbine, which
is based on the proven J-series and uses an enhanced air-cooled system for cooling the combustor,
thicker TBC (thermal barrier coating) and a compressor with a high pressure ratio as its coretechnologies, all of which have been validated as individual elements at the T-point validation
facility. Recently, the final confirmation of the integrity of equipment reliability, performance, etc.,
has been completed. This report presents the verification results.

|1. Introduction
Since it has recently become very important to reduce CO2 emissions, power supply by
renewable energies such as wind power generation and solar photovoltaic power generation has beenplanned and carried out. However, such renewable energies are unstable and natural fluctuations areunavoidable, and present concerns such as sudden frequency and load fluctuations in the powersystem. Against this background, GTCC power generation, which is more efficient and more
operable than conventional thermal power generation, is becoming more important in terms of global
environmental conservation and a stable energy supply. For higher GTCC efficiency, a higher
temperature of the gas turbine plays an important role. We developed the M701D, a 1150°C classlarge-capacity gas turbine, in the 1980s. This was followed by the M501F, which had a turbine inlet
temperature of 1350°C and the M501G, which employed a steam-cooled combustor and had a turbine
inlet temperature of 1500°C (Figure 1). Through these developments, we have verified the high plant
thermal efficiency and reliability, as well as low emissions. From 2004, we participated in the“1700°C class Ultrahigh-Temperature Gas Turbine Component Technology Development” national
project to conduct research and development of the latest technology necessary for higher
temperature and efficiency, and utilized the results of these efforts to develop the M501J, which
attained the world’s first turbine inlet temperature of 1600°C. Verification operation of the M501J*1

Large Frame Gas Turbine Engineering Department, Gas Turbine Technology & Products Integration Division, Mitsubishi*2

Chief Staff Manager, Large Frame Gas Turbine Engineering Department, Gas Turbine Technology & Products Integration*3

Manager, Large Frame Gas Turbine Engineering Department, Gas Turbine Technology & Products Integration Division,*4

Director, Large Frame Gas Turbine Engineering Department, Gas Turbine Technology & Products Integration Division,*5

Senior General Manager, Gas Turbine Technology & Products Integration Division, Mitsubishi Power. Ltd.

Power. Ltd.
Division, Mitsubishi Power. Ltd.
Mitsubishi Power. Ltd.
Mitsubishi Power. Ltd.

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GTCC started in 2011 at the gas turbine combined cycle power plant validation facility (T-point)
located in Mitsubishi Power Takasago Works, and operating results have been steadily accumulated.
The J-series gas turbine adopts a steam-cooled system for cooling the combustor, but if an aircooled system can be used while maintaining the high turbine inlet temperature, further improvementin the efficiency and operability of GTCC is expected. Therefore, we worked on the development of
next-generation GTCC that realizes air cooling of high-temperature gas turbines and devised theenhanced air-cooled system that is one of its core technologies. In the spring of 2015, we completed
the validation test of the entire system at T-point, and since then the system has been in operation for
more than 10,000 hours. This core technology is applied to the next-generation JAC (J-Air-Cooled)high-efficiency gas turbine, which has achieved a high turbine inlet temperature of 1650°C. We havebeen proceeding with the construction of the second gas turbine combined cycle power plant
validation facility (hereinafter referred to as T-point 2) located in Mitsubishi Power Takasago Works
for long-term actual-equipment validation of the JAC gas turbine. T-point 2, which is state-of-theart GTCC equipment with an output of 566 MW that combines the 1650°C next-generation JAC
high-efficiency gas turbine and the newly-developed high-efficiency steam turbine, has been in test
operation since January 2020 and achieved a combined rated output of 566 MW on April 2. We thencarried out various tests and adjustments necessary to operate T-point 2 as a power plant, completed
all the functional confirmations and started commercial operation on July 1. Due to the adoption of
the JAC gas turbine, the power generation efficiency of the GTCC reached 64%. During test
operation, in order to verify the underlying technology, we carried out thousands of temporary largescale measurements in addition to measurement instruments, and monitored and evaluated them
online. This report presents the development concept of the state-of-the-art high efficiency JAC gas
turbine and the verification results obtained at the T-point 2 validation facility.

Figure 1

Developmental transition of large gas turbine series|2. Development and results of M501J gas turbine
The M501J achieves a turbine inlet temperature of 1600°C based on the component
technologies already verified by the abundantly-proven F-series gas turbine and G-/H-series gas
turbines, with turbine inlet temperature classes of 1400°C and 1500°C, respectively, in addition to
the application of the development of the most advanced 1700°C class technology resulting from thenational project. As a result of the increase of the turbine inlet temperature and the adoption of thelatest component technology, the GTCC power generation end thermal efficiency has greatly
increased in comparison with existing equipment. CO2 emissions can be reduced by about 60% whena conventional coal-fired thermal power plant is replaced with a natural gas-fired J-series gas turbine
combined cycle power plant. Figure 2 lists the technological characteristics of the M501J.

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The development of the M501J gas turbine was carried out by conducting validation tests ofeach component at the basic design stage, reflecting the results in the detailed design and finallyvalidating the actual operation of the entire gas turbine in the power generation plant validation
facility. Figure 3 depicts the appearance of the gas turbine combined cycle power plant validation
facility (T-point) located in Mitsubishi Power Takasago Works. We carried out 2300 temporary
measurements on the first model of the M501J and verified during test operation in 2011 that theperformance, mechanical characteristics and combustion characteristics satisfied the target values
before the shipping of the commercial product. We have received orders for 76 J-series gas turbinesfrom Japanese and overseas customers and are shipping them as they become available. Up to now,
45 units have been put into commercial operation and a total operational time of more than 1,160,000
hours has been reached (Figure 4).

Figure 2 Technological characteristics of M501J series gas turbine components

Figure 3 Gas turbine combined cycle power plant validation facility (T-point) in
the Mitsubishi Power Takasago Works.

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Figure 4

Operating results of M501J series gas turbine (including 50 Hz units)|3. Development concept of 1650°C class M501 JAC series gas
turbineWe proceeded with the development of the next-generation 1650°C class JAC gas series
turbine in order to further improve the efficiency and operability by applying to the proven M501J
gas turbine the following validated component technologies: (1) an enhanced air-cooled system forcooling the combustor, (2) thicker TBC and (3) a compressor with a high pressure ratio.
The basic concept of this gas turbine is as follows (Figure 5 and Figure 6). Validation of these
individual component technologies was completed at the T-point validation facility and they werethen applied to the 1650°C class JAC series gas turbine (Table 1).

Figure 5 Development concept of 1650°C class JAC series gas turbine

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Figure 6

Application flow of component technology to 1650°C class JAC gas turbine

Table 1Comparison of gas turbine performance(ISO, standard conditions)

Frequency (Hz)Pressure ratio
Gas turbine output (MW)Gas turbine efficiency (%-LHV)
Combined cycle output (MW)Combined cycle efficiency (%-LHV)

M501J
60
23
330
42
484
62

M501JAC
60
25
435
44
630
>64

(1) Adopting an enhanced air-cooled system to improve operability and increase the turbine inlet
temperature in comparison to that of the J-series.
(2) Adopting thicker TBC developed based on the technology resulting from the national project toachieve both high performance and reliability despite the increasing turbine inlet temperature.
(3) Adopting a compressor with a high pressure ratio design equivalent to the H-series to suppress
the increase of the exhaust gas temperature at the gas turbine outlet.

|4. Validation of core technologies incorporated in 1650°C class
M501 JAC gas turbine
This chapter describes the core component technologies incorporated in the JAC gas turbine
and their long-term verification results.

4.1

Enhanced air-cooled system for cooling combustor

System overview
The J-series gas turbine adopts the steam-cooled system for cooling the combustor, but if an
air-cooled system can be used while maintaining the high turbine inlet temperature, further
improvement in the efficiency and operability of GTCC can be expected. Therefore, we devised anenhanced air-cooled system that is a technology for realizing air cooling of high-temperature gas
turbines. By adopting this enhanced air-cooled system, air cooling of gas turbines even with a turbine
inlet temperature of 1650°C can be realized, enabling an increase in combined power generation
efficiency and the operability of the entire plant. In the spring of 2015, we completed the actual
equipment validation test of the entire system at the T-point validation facility. An overview of the
air-cooled system is presented below.
In the enhanced air-cooled system, air extracted from the compressor outlet (combustor casing)is cooled by the enhanced cooling air cooler, pressurized by the enhanced cooling air compressor,
used for cooling the combustor and then returned to the combustion area in the combustor (Figure7).

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Figure 7 Schematic diagram of enhanced air-cooled system and T-point
validation facility

The characteristics of the enhanced air-cooled system are described below.
(1) In contrast to the conventional steam-cooled system, which recovers all exhaust heat on thebottoming side, the enhanced air-cooled system recovers some exhaust heat on the topping side
and can improve the efficiency of the system.
(2) Cooling performance equal to or higher than that of the existing steam-cooled system can beachieved by optimizing the combustor cooling structure.
(3) The startup time of the entire GTCC can be shortened in comparison with the steam-cooledsystem.
It is important for improving the efficiency of next-generation GTCC with an enhanced aircooled system to develop a combustor that can be efficiently cooled with a small amount of cooling
air, reduce the waste heat from the enhanced cooling air cooler, improve the recovery efficiency andreduce the power of the enhanced cooling air compressor.
Actual equipment validation of enhanced air-cooled system
In the spring of 2015, we validated the operability of the enhanced air-cooled system required
for actual plants, namely the responsiveness to transient changes such as start/stop, load change andload rejection, using the T-point validation facility, and confirmed that there were no problems. The
enhanced cooling air compressor operating point behavior during a gas turbine trip test was also
tested and it was confirmed that the enhanced cooling air compressor could be stopped safely without
entering a surging state at a trip from 100% load of the gas turbine.
This enhanced air-cooled system was operated and long-term validation was carried out at the
T-point validation facility, and operating results of more than 10,000 hours have been accumulated.

4.2

Thicker TBC

Although the turbine inlet temperature of the 1650°C class JAC gas turbine can become 50°C
higher than that of the J-series, thicker TBC is adopted to achieve both high performance andreliability. Generally, the durability decreases as the TBC is thickened, but the TBC developed basedon the technology resulting from the national project has higher durability than before, making
thicker TBC possible. Prior to application to the actual blade, for application validation of thicker
TBC, coupon test pieces were sampled to check the microstructures and porosity, which was
followed by thermal-cycle testing to confirm that there were no problems in terms of durability. In
the actual equipment validation, thicker TBC was applied to the combustor, row 1 to 3 turbine vanes
and blades, as well as the split ring segments, and the reliability was confirmed through long-term
validation. Figure 8 shows the thicker TBC applied to the row1 turbine vane.

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Figure 8

4.3

Verification results of thicker TBC on turbine row 1 vane at T-point

Compressor with high pressure ratio

The compressor of the 1650°C class JAC gas turbine has a high pressure ratio design
equivalent to our H-series, which has a proven operational results and specifications that suppress
the increase of the exhaust gas temperature resulting from an increase of the gas turbine inlet
temperature by increasing the pressure ratio from the 23 adopted by the J-series to 25. As a large-airflow compressor with a pressure ratio of 25, an H-series compressor with a pressure ratio of 25 wasvalidated at the T-point validation facility in 2001. We also performed actual equipment validationof the compressor that was designed based on the J-series and had a pressure ratio of 25 at the Tpoint validation facility in May 2018. As a result, it was confirmed that the starting characteristics
and aerodynamic performance were good.

|5. Verification results of the 1650°C class M501 JAC gas turbine atT-point 2
T-point 2 is a state-of-the-art GTCC facility with an output of 566 MW that combines a 1650°C
next-generation JAC high-efficiency gas turbine and a newly-developed high-efficiency steam
turbine. The M501 JAC gas turbine was shipped and installed in the spring of 2019 and test operation
at T-point 2 commenced in January 2020. In this test operation, first the gas turbine alone wasoperated and reached its rated load after 10 starts from the first ignition. After steam ventilation, theoperability confirmation test was carried out by Combined Cycle (CC) operation, and after that,commercial operation began on July 1 (Figure 9 and Figure 10). In test operation, we constantly
monitored the start-up acceleration, no-load rated speed and state quantity during partial-load andrated-load operation of the gas turbine in order to make a final confirmation of the reliability, actual
performance, exhaust gas emissions, etc., of the equipment. Next, functional tests and special tests
required for actual commercial plants were completed.

Figure 9

Test operation schedule at T-point 2

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Figure 10

Overview of T-point 2 combined cycle plant

During test operation, more than 2,800 temporary large-scale measurements were conducted
to evaluate the integrity in order to verify the technologies that are the basis of the JAC gas turbine.
For the rotating parts, roughly 100 large-scale telemetric measurements were carried out to confirm
the metal temperature and vibration stress integrity of the compressor rotors and turbine blades. This
chapter presents the final confirmation results of the integrity of each component (Figure 11).

Figure 11

5.1

Implementation status of test operation and temporary measurements

Enhanced air-cooled combustor and enhanced air-cooled system

The enhanced air-cooled system had already been validated at the T-point validation facility,
including its ability to follow transient changes. In addition, the metal temperature of the enhanced
air-cooled combustor was measured in this test operation and its cooling performance in the actual
equipment was finally validated. As a result, it was confirmed that the combustion casing metal

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temperature distribution was lower than the design allowance value, so there were no problems interms of cooling performance (Figure 12). It was also confirmed that there were no particular
problems with the combustion vibration characteristics and exhaust gas emissions, and stable
operation was possible under partial- to rated-load conditions.

Figure 12 Measurement results of enhanced air-cooled combustor
metal temperature

The JAC gas turbine uses a system that enables clearance control during under-load operation
based on the enhanced air-cooled system. This system uses two cooling air supply methods: one
causes cooling air to bypass the turbine blade ring and introduces it directly into the combustor andthe other causes cooling air to pass through the turbine blade ring in advance to supply it to maximize
the performance by reducing the turbine clearance during load operation. These two systems can beswitched by the switching valve (three-way valve) even during load operation. The former can handle
operation with large load fluctuations by opening the clearance (Flexible Mode). On the other hand,
the latter can close the clearance during load-hold operation and maximize the performance of steady
operation (Performance Mode). Figure 13 shows the behavior of the clearance when the three-way
valve is switched during load operation. It was finally confirmed that this system can improve
operability more than before while maximizing performance.

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Figure 13

5.2

Turbine clearance control using enhanced air-cooled system

Turbine blade metal temperature

The turbine inlet temperature of the 1650°C class JAC gas turbine can become 50°C higher
than that of the J-series and adopts thicker TBC to achieve both high performance and reliability. As
mentioned above, the integrity of the thicker TBC has been verified and confirmed at T-point overthe long term. Figure 14 shows the specially measured metal temperature distribution of the JAC
turbine row 1 vane to which the TBC is applied in order to optimize the cooling design. It was
confirmed that although turbine row 1 vane was subjected to the strictest heat load and its coolingstructure was complicated, there were no local high temperature parts, all parts were below the design
allowance temperature and the integrity was maintained under the condition of an inlet gas
temperature of 1650°C. The integrity was also confirmed in the inspection after about 2000 hours ofoperation.
For the turbine row 1 blade, in addition to confirmation of the blade surface metal temperatureand vibration stress using telemetric measurements, pyrometric measurement, which has been
introduced at T-point, was carried out. The pyrometer was inserted into the gas path from the standby
position through the insertion hole provided in the combustor casing and the turbine row 1 vane toconfirm the integrity of the blade surface temperature distribution around the leading edge of theblade surface, which was subjected to a particularly high heat load. The integrity was also confirmedin the inspection after about 2000 hours of operation (Figure 15).

Figure 14 Metal temperature distribution measurement results of turbine row 1
vane and inspection results after operation

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Figure 15 Surface temperature distribution measurement results of turbine
row 1 blade and inspection results after operation

5.3

High pressure ratio compressor

The compressor of the 1650°C class JAC gas turbine has a pressure ratio that was increased
from 23 to 25. However, since a high pressure ratio compressor has a design in which the outlet flow
path area is relatively narrow, there is a concern that the flow rate will decrease and the rotating stall
will relatively deteriorate during startup with a low pressure ratio. As mentioned above, an H-series
compressor with a similar pressure ratio of 25 was validated, as was a compressor with a pressure
rate of 25 based on the J-series in May 2018 at T-point. Detailed temporary measurements were also
carried out for the JAC-series, and it was final-confirmed that the starting characteristics, bladevibration stress and aerodynamic performance were favorable (Figure 16).

Figure 16 Verification results of JAC gas turbine high pressure ratio
compressor|6. Conclusion
For higher GTCC efficiency, a higher temperature of the gas turbine plays an important role.
Mitsubishi Power has participated in the “1700°C class Ultrahigh-Temperature Gas Turbine
Component Technology Development” national project since 2004. We utilized the results of these
efforts to develop the high-efficiency M501J gas turbine, which attained the world’s first turbine
inlet temperature of 1600°C, and have since steadily accumulated operating results. In order to further
improve the efficiency and operability of GTCC, we developed the next-generation 1650°C class
JAC gas turbine, which is based on the proven J-series and uses an enhanced air-cooled system forcooling the combustor, thicker TBC and a compressor with a high pressure ratio as its coretechnologies, and completed the validation of the individual elements at the T-point validation
facility.
We had been proceeding with construction of the second gas turbine combined cycle power
plant validation facility (T-point 2) in our Takasago Works for long-term verification of the JAC gas
turbine. We started its test operation in January 2020, carried out as many as about 2,800 temporary
large-scale measurements and made final confirmation of the integrity of the JAC series equipment,

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such as the reliability and performance during 1650°C operation. At T-point 2, the combined rated
output reached 566 MW on April 2 and all the functional confirmations as a power generation facility
were completed. Commercial operation commenced on July 1. Since then, operational hours and thenumber of starts continue to be accumulated.
Verified JAC gas turbines have been shipped to commercial power plants in North America,
etc., one after another. Hydrogen co-firing is planned for a GTCC power generation project in Utahin the United States. By incorporating the combustor technology we developed independently, we
aim to start the operation of the JAC gas turbine with a hydrogen co-firing rate of 30% and to realize
100% hydrogen-fired operation in the future.
The long-term verification operation at T-point 2 is carried out from our RMC (remotemonitoring center). We aim to improve the reliability of not only major equipment such as gas
turbines, but also the entire plant including auxiliary equipment, validate various applications
included in the “TOMONI” digital solution, such as shortening the startup time and automatically
optimizing operating parameters, and realize autonomous operation in the future.

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