Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), the world’s largest aluminium smelter ex-China, has announced that a consortium of Sepco III and Mitsubishi Power, a power solution brand of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), has been awarded a full turnkey contract for a fourth additional block at the Power Station 5 within its premises.

Alba said, on completion, the Block 4 will add 680 MW scaling up Power Station 5’s total capacity to 2,480 MW.

As per the terms of the contract, the Mitsubishi Power-Sepco III consortium will be responsible for the design, engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power block.

Mitsubishi Power will be leveraging decades of experience and innovation to build and supply the power technology, including the gas turbine, steam turbine, generators, and auxiliaries, in addition to providing technical support.

For the project, the Japanese group is set to supply a combined cycle power plant, which comprises M701JAC gas turbine, an air-cooled version of J-series gas turbines and a steam turbine. The commercial operations on the project will begin in Q4 2024.

Power Station 5, which hosts three gas turbines, steam turbines and heat recovery steam generators, is the biggest and most efficient power plant in Bahrain.

“We are thrilled to add a fourth block into Power Station 5 to bring its power output to more than 2.4 GW,” remarked Alba’s Board of Directors Chairman Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa after signing the deal with the Mitsubishi Power and Sepco III consortium partners.

“Investing in efficient gas turbines, our latest ambitious power project will accelerate our ESG transition and enable Alba to reduce its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions as we embrace Bahrain’s objectives to reach Net Zero by 2060,” stated Shaikh Daij.

The signing ceremony was attended by Hideshi Kawamoto, President and CEO of Mitsubishi Power, Dr Javier Cavada, President and CEO for EMEA Region at Mitsubishi Power, Khalid Salem, the President of Mitsubishi Power (Mena),  Sepco III Vice President and GTCC Business Unit Leader (for EMEA) Kong Lingfeng and Alba CEO Ali Al Baqali, CPO Amin Sultan and other senior officials.