Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has continued to contribute to the preservation of the global environment and the stable supply of energy through gas turbine development based on our abundant operating experience and state of the art technology. In recent years, using development results from the "1,700°C‐Class Ultrahigh‐Temperature Gas Turbine Component Technology Development" national project that MHI has participated in since 2004, we have successfully developed and verified the M501J, thereby capable of achieving the world's first turbine inlet temperature of 1600°C and a gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) thermal efficiency of 61.5% or more. Further based on the core technology employed in the M501J (60Hz unit), MHI developed the M701J as a 50Hz J unit. M501JAC, in which an air‐cooling combustor was employed for better operational flexibility, is also under development. This paper presents how these advanced high‐efficiency gas turbines are being developed and operated.
