Georgia’s New Turbine Signals the Grid Balancing Act

The 350-ton engine is more than hardware — it’s a sign of how utilities plan to keep power flowing as the grid evolves

For the first time in a decade, Georgia Power has added a new natural gas turbine to its fleet — part of three units ordered in 2023 that together will generate 1.3 gigawatts of electricity by 2027. The turbine, delivered in August to Plant Yates outside Atlanta, arrives as global wait times for such equipment stretch to as long as seven years.

The machine itself is one of the largest on the market: a Mitsubishi Power M501JAC, weighing 350 tons. Once in service, the three units will provide enough electricity to power roughly one million homes at peak demand — a significant boost for a state facing the dual pressures of coal retirements and rising energy use.

For everyday Georgians, the arrival of this turbine is more than an engineering milestone. Georgia Power’s 2023 Integrated Resource Plan called for new combustion turbines to provide operational flexibility, balancing the growth of solar generation with dispatchable backup. Turbines can start quickly, providing “peaking power” during times of high demand or when renewable output drops. Georgia Power says the new units can also run on oil if gas is unavailable, and with modifications could eventually use hydrogen blends.

In recent years, utilities and developers have rushed to secure gas turbines, driven first by coal plant closures and more recently by the boom in energy-hungry data centers. Smaller turbines can be delivered in just two to three years, but large units like Georgia’s are now subject to delays of up to seven years.

The delivery underscores a broader reality for the U.S. grid: as coal exits and renewables grow, utilities are increasingly dependent on flexible, fast-ramping power to keep pace with demand. Georgia’s early planning secured it an advantage — and offers a glimpse of how the nation’s energy transition is unfolding in real time.