Chairman of Alba pays a visit to the facilities of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan

The Chairman of the Board of Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa during his recent field tour to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (M.H.I.)’s Takasago Machinery Works and Hydrogen Park, in Hyogo Prefecture Japan stated, “We are very excited to witness first-hand the J.A.C. Advanced Gas Turbine (G.T.), the first of its kind in the world G.T. manufactured for a primary aluminium smelter, ready to be shipped to Bahrain for Alba’s Power Station 5 (PS5) Block 4 Project.”

During this visit to Japan, led by Alba's chairman of the board, Ali Al Baqali and Amin Sultan, the company's chief executive officer and chief power officer, discussed issues of mutual interest, including Block 4 of Power Station 5, as well as potential areas of collaboration, like sustainable technologies that are currently a part of MHI's portfolios and its power solutions brand, Mitsubishi Power.

Alba’s delegation met with Toshiyuki Hashi, Executive Vice President, President and CEO of Energy Systems, Takashi Tozawa, Senior Fellow, Senior General Manager, GTCC Business Division of Energy Systems, and other GTCC business executives.

Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa, Alba’s Chairman of the Board, further added, “We are pleased with the on-schedule progress of the US$265 million PS5 Block 4 Expansion Project, which, once completed in Q4 2024, will be a turnaround in Alba’s ESG journey as it will reduce our overall GHG emissions, thus setting the benchmark in terms of sustainable and efficient power generation in the aluminium industry.”

“We are proud to have achieved a Safety record of 712,790 safe-working hours without Lost Time Injury to date (as of July 02) on this Project.”

Alba’s PS5 Block 4 Expansion Project is the addition of a fourth Block of similar 1:1:1 configuration with 680.9 megawatts (MW) M701JAC Gas Turbine Combined Cycle and includes a tie into the existing 220kV Substation. Once operational in Q4 2024, Block 4 will increase the nameplate capacity of PS5 Complex from 1,800 MW to 2,481 MW and reduce its overall GHG emissions intensity ratio by 0.5x, thus supporting the Company in its race to decarbonisation.

Toshiyuki Hashi, Executive Vice President, President and CEO of Energy Systems, stated on behalf of MHI while commenting on this occasion, "We are very honoured to welcome the distinguished senior Alba delegation to our headquarters in Tokyo and our Takasago Machinery Works and Hydrogen Park site. As leaders in clean and hydrogen-ready power generation technology, MHI is proud to provide our latest advancements to support Alba's goals of ensuring a reliable and efficient power supply while continuously enhancing its operational excellence and productivity.”

“Together, we are driving the industry forward to a decarbonized future with clean energy solutions that reduce environmental impact and pave the way for a sustainable and prosperous tomorrow. This visit further strengthens our partnership and reinforces our commitment to support our industrial partners in accelerating their energy transition, particularly in the hard-to-abate sectors."

MHI's Takasago Machinery Works is a one-of-a-kind facility for manufacturing Mitsubishi Power's cutting-edge gas turbines. To ensure the reliability and performance of advanced-class gas turbines, they undergo rigorous, long-term testing and verification under the same conditions as an actual power plant at Mitsubishi Power's ultramodern, grid-connected T-Point 2 facility. The co-located Takasago Hydrogen Park is the world's first center for validating hydrogen-related technologies, from hydrogen production to power generation.