Jackson Generation Pioneers North America’s First M501JAC Gas Turbines

The Jackson Generation plant, a 1.2-GW combined cycle power plant in Elwood, Illinois, debuted North America’s first M501JAC gas turbines. Developed by J-POWER USA, the facility has emerged as a model for flexible, digitally enabled power generation in a rapidly evolving energy landscape.

About a decade ago, PJM Interconnection—one of the largest and most dynamic organized wholesale power markets in the U.S.—began signaling an impending capacity crunch. Although it faced higher-than-expected demand projections, the entity began bracing for the potential retirement of up to 20% of its coal-fired fleet, driven by federal Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). At the same time, Illinois’ six nuclear power plants—a combined capacity of about 12 GW—began showing signs of economic struggle against a dramatic plunge in wholesale spot market prices, owing in large part to low natural gas prices. And while PJM geared up for a rapid growth of renewables, largely supported by Renewable Portfolio Standards and other legislative policies, the market increasingly showed it was adequately ripe for new, highly flexible gas-fired power plants.

At the time, J-POWER USA Development Co. Ltd. (J-POWER), a U.S.-based development arm wholly owned by Tokyo, Japan–headquartered Electric Power Development Co., held ownership in Elwood Energy, a 1.3-GW power plant comprising nine GE 7FA turbines that began operation in 1999. Elwood, sited in Will County, Illinois, close to Chicago, performs as one of the largest peakers in PJM.

“We had years before bought land in and around Elwood Energy with thoughts of some future development work,” said Ryan Kozey, J-POWER USA director of Construction and Asset Optimization. “We started initial development work [between 2013 and 2015], and it turned out to be the right spot for our next big venture as a company.”

Elwood Energy’s proximity was a key factor in the decision to develop Jackson Generation nearby, as it provided access to critical interconnection infrastructure with ComEd, Kozey explained. Equally important was the site’s location near three natural gas suppliers—ANR, Northern Border, and Alliance. Although connecting the suppliers required significant infrastructure investment, it aligned with J-POWER’s strategy to ensure fuel flexibility and long-term resilience for Jackson Generation, he said.

Pioneering a New Gas Turbine Model in North America

The new project quickly progressed. But rather than developing a run-of-the-mill 1,200-MW combined cycle power plant, the team at J-POWER USA took extraordinary steps to pioneer a new model of gas turbine technology in North America.

At the heart of the Jackson Generation facility is Mitsubishi Power’s M501JAC gas turbine, an enhanced air-cooled configuration of the Japanese company’s original steam-cooled J-series design. In July 2019, when Mitsubishi Power announced J-POWER USA’s order for two 1-on-1 M501JAC power trains, they were the 62nd and 63rd J-Series gas turbines ordered globally. The turbine model inherently reaped lessons from rigorous verification at Mitsubishi Power’s grid-connected T-Point 2 facility in Japan. However, Jackson Generation’s two M501JAC turbines were to become the first manufactured at Mitsubishi Power’s 2010-opened Savannah Machinery Works located in Pooler, Georgia. For Mitsubishi Power, the order represented a significant start-point to showcase its technology, purposefully developed for the exceptional flexibility and efficiency demanded by evolving markets like PJM.

Flexibility was a top priority for J-POWER, Kozey noted. A key selling point was Mitsubishi Power’s TOMONI Very Low Load (VLL) technology, which enables each 1 by 1 power train to operate at less than 25% of full load while remaining in emissions compliance. “That was probably one of the biggest marketable items out there, to be able to operate at lower loads, even below [minimum emissions-compliant load (MECL)] at times,” he said.

1. Digitalization plays a crucial role at the 1.2-GW Jackson Generation power plant in Illinois, ensuring optimal plant operations and real-time responsiveness to grid demands. Shown here are Operations Manager Corbin Shanklin and Control Room Operator Eugene Mykhailenko as they review distributed control system screens. Courtesy: Jackson Generation

In addition, Jackson Generation’s plant design incorporated two heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) designed and supplied by steam production specialist John Cockerill Energy. These three-pressure plus reheat HRSGs were crafted with a modular casing, a design perfected on major cogeneration and combined cycle projects in Canada and Pennsylvania. “The HRSG features a gas turbine flow correction device and multiple stages of carbon monoxide (CO) catalysts to maximize CO and volatile organic compound destruction,” John Cockerill told POWER. “The duct burner is a typical design. The selective catalytic reduction system is designed to quickly come online to meet nitrogen oxide emissions early during gas turbine startup. The HRSG itself is mechanically designed for over 300 start/stop cycles per year.”

These features have armed Jackson Generation with an exceptionally low heat rate for each of its 435-MW gas turbines. “We’re sitting around the low end, around [6,400 to 6,600 Btu/kWh] at baseload, even with the duct firing,” Matt Wrightsman, Jackson Generation plant engineer, told POWER. “So, it shows good economics,” he said. “Your 7Fs are just below [7,000 Btu/kWh], so when you compete them against the same gas price on city-gated, it makes them more appetizing for the market to run us a little bit more with more margin.”

Building the Jackson Generation plant, however, was not without its challenges. The biggest disruptor came from the COVID-19 pandemic. “Early in mid-2020 and kind of all the way through probably mid-2021, we faced a lot of challenges with labor and keeping guys onsite working,” Kozey noted.

The project adhered to its tight three-year construction schedule, aided largely by a unique charter signed by its engineering, construction, and procurement (EPC) contractor, Kiewit, J-POWER, and Mitsubishi Power. “We were able to overcome unprecedented challenges of building the plant during a global pandemic through consistent, open communication and extensive onsite safety measures,” noted Thomas Struchtemeyer, project manager at Kiewit. “Working together, we effectively mitigated the impact and challenges related to the supply chain and logistics to successfully enter commercial operation on time.”

Adapting to a Changing Role

In another important measure of foresight, one which ensured Jackson Generation would perform as designed, J-POWER also brought in key plant operating personnel more than a year before the facility’s scheduled startup. According to Corbin Shanklin, the plant’s operations manager, the crucial effort allowed the team, which today comprises just 27 full-time employees, to become intimately familiar with the 1,200-MW plant’s systems and procedures.

“Anytime that they were bringing up a new system, or they had the technical field advisor onsite to commission a system, we always had a couple of guys out there with them to take notes, to kind of pick his brain, to ask questions,” he explained. “And then from there, we started going ahead and building our procedures early on in the commissioning phase.” The operating team ultimately built a full body of detailed operating documentation for the first-of-a-kind facility’s equipment, which includes, for example, shutdown procedures, preventative maintenance checklists, spare inventories, and technical notes to run the air-cooled condenser for optimized winter operations.

While that accumulated knowledge has been valuable in training new plant personnel, it has also proven pivotal for other new M501JAC facilities. “So, for instance, in order to get the unit down to turning gear—I think it was like 90 hours or so—we created our own procedure to cut that time by 24 hours or something. We sent that to Mitsubishi Power, had them put their blessing on it, and now Mitsubishi is using that for all the other 501JAC plants,” Shanklin said.

Readying for an Evolving Future

Today, those efforts are paying even greater dividends as Jackson Generation’s role shifts to align with PJM’s market dynamics. “It’s definitely not just a baseload plant. We do cycle quite a bit still and it depends on what the wind is doing,” Shanklin explained. “Last year in August, I think we cycled each unit probably around 20 times. This year, so far, in July and August, for the most part, we’ve been running nonstop, with a couple of cycles here and there,” he said.

Running the plant at this remarkable level of operational flexibility and agility despite its massive 1,200 MW capacity benefits from the talents of its highly skilled and dedicated team, Shanklin said. “It’s kind of like having something the size of a school bus, but, you know, maneuvering it like a motorcycle.”

The plant’s digital systems and control technologies have also significantly enhanced its flexibility, helping it keep pace with shifting demand patterns and regulatory requirements, Wrightsman noted. “The way it’s been tuned, with digitalization and feed-forwarding, allows us to match grid demand,” he explained. “Even when prices are low, we can tap into ancillary services because of the control we have over these turbines.”

As the energy landscape continues to transform further, and market demands evolve as decarbonization gains steam, J-POWER is proactively working to ensure the long-term viability and adaptability of the Jackson Generation facility. “We are looking into the hydrogen aspect of Jackson,” said Kozey, noting that M501JAC turbines are already capable of co-firing a mix with 30% hydrogen. J-POWER is already working with suppliers and evaluating the infrastructure required to bring hydrogen to the site in the future, he said.

Jackson’s profitability in the lucrative market in February 2023 has garnered immense interest—and recently earned it a new partner: Thai energy giant Gulf Energy Development Plc. In February 2023, GULF acquired a 49% share of the plant for $409.6 million. “This investment in Jackson Generation can be considered GULF’s first step into the U.S. energy market,” said GULF chief financial officer Yupapin Wangviwat. “J-POWER has been a strong partner of GULF for over 20 years and has jointly invested in natural gas power projects under the Gulf JP group, including some of GULF’s earliest independent power producer (IPP) projects,” she noted.

“We are confident that with our long history of gas-fired power project development experience in Thailand, we will be able to contribute our expertise and technology to successfully manage the Jackson Generation project with J-POWER. Furthermore, as electricity demand in the U.S. continues to increase, GULF sees the opportunity to develop other power projects and is also considering the potential for additional investments with various partners, including J-POWER, which has a number of renewable energy projects under development in the U.S.”

—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).