Gas turbine slots are booked for years ahead, and the factories that build the machines are now being enlarged. On 23 October Mitsubishi Power announced a $490 million expansion of its Savannah Machinery Works near Pooler, Georgia. The state's governor announced the project, according to local broadcaster WTOC: 450,000 square feet more floor space and more than 220 new jobs. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the expansion is expected to double the plant's production capacity.
What The Pooler Plant Does
The works opened in 2010 and, WTOC says, was the first full gas turbine plant of the company outside Japan. The new space brings machining capacity and new production technology, and is described as making parts for gas turbines for the U.S. market. The AJC puts current output at about 12 turbines a year and says each machine weighs around 400 tons. It names Georgia Power and other Southern Company utilities among the customers: a Savannah-built turbine was installed at Georgia Power's Plant Yates in 2025, and at least three more of that utility's sites have turbines on order, the paper reports.
Why Georgia, And When
The AJC says Mitsubishi also looked at Florida and Texas. WTOC quotes the plant's operations head naming the local workforce and the access to port and rail as the deciding factors. On demand, the AJC points to Georgia Power's plans for another 10 GW of generation, 8 GW of it for data centers, and to large data center projects near Savannah and Augusta.
The two reports differ on timing. WTOC says the company hopes to have the expansion running by early 2029; the AJC says Mitsubishi has given no opening date.
Capacity That Arrives In 2029
A factory extension that comes on line in early 2029 does nothing for a plant that needs power in 2027, and that gap is where engine sets and aeroderivative units keep being ordered. For the owner, the practical point is the order of the questions: delivery slot first, then the site, then everything the machine needs around it, including how it rejects its heat in the weather the site really gets. Turbine inlet conditions and engine cooling both punish projects that leave ambient data until late. More on gas turbines and power plants, and an earlier item on a 9E turbine order for a plant near Abidjan.
Sources: WTOC, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
