Mitsubishi Power to spend $490M doubling Savannah turbine plant, adding 220 jobs

Mitsubishi Power Americas will spend $490 million to more than double the size of its gas turbine plant near Savannah, Georgia. The company and Gov. Brian Kemp announced the project Friday, Oct. 23.

The expansion adds 450,000 square feet to the existing 430,000-square-foot Savannah Machinery Works in Pooler, taking it to roughly 880,000. The company says it will create more than 220 jobs across manufacturing, engineering, quality control, maintenance, logistics and support.

Parent company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is funding the project.

What the money buys

The company says the spending covers added machining capacity, advanced manufacturing technology, and upgrades to material flow and production infrastructure. The plant builds advanced-class gas turbines, steam turbines and related power generation equipment for customers across the Americas.

Mitsubishi Power signed an expansion framework agreement with the Savannah Economic Development Authority as part of the announcement. Construction has not begun. Local station WSAV reported an expected completion in 2029 and said no groundbreaking date has been announced.

The announcement did not mention any specific state or local incentives, according to WSAV. Neither the company nor the state has said whether any are attached.

At $490 million for 220 jobs, this is a capital-heavy project, roughly $2.2 million per job. That is normal for heavy machining, and these are skilled industrial jobs.

"Meeting the growing demand for power will require investment in facilities, in our supply chain and in our workforce," said Bill Newsom, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Power Americas. Brandon Bodie, vice president of Savannah Machinery Works, said, "Savannah has been a critical hub for Mitsubishi Power since 2010."

The order book behind the bet

MHI reports a 35-GW backlog of large-frame gas turbines, up about 52% from 23 GW a year earlier. In fiscal 2025 it booked 35 large-frame turbines totaling 16 GW. In the first quarter of fiscal 2026 it added 10 more, four for the U.S. and six for Japan.

Order intake in MHI's Energy Systems division jumped 56% year over year in that quarter. MHI Chief Financial Officer Hiroshi Nishio said in an August earnings briefing that the orders booked in the quarter are scheduled for delivery between 2028 and 2030.

The customers are utilities and data center developers who want dispatchable power that runs when demand spikes. Two recent projects show the pattern:

• Wyoming: Tallgrass and Mitsubishi Power allocated two M501JAC turbines for the first phase of the Cheyenne Power Hub. They are expected to support about 1,150 MW for a large data center, in a project the companies put above $7 billion.
• Alabama: PowerSouth Energy Cooperative picked Mitsubishi Power for another M501JAC at its Lowman Energy Center. The turbine will lift winter capacity from 696 MW to more than 1 GW, and the order includes a 25-year service agreement.

Savannah opened in 2010 as Mitsubishi Power's first complete gas turbine manufacturing operation outside Japan. It shipped its first U.S.-built turbine in 2012 and its 50th advanced-class unit in June 2023. The site sits at the intersection of I-95 and I-16, with port and rail access.

Expansion, with a caution flag

MHI is not treating the boom as a sure thing. CEO Eisaku Ito told Bloomberg the company had been working toward a 30% increase in production capacity, "but that's not enough to meet growing demand." MHI now plans to double gas turbine capacity from 2024 levels, though it has said it is being selective about new orders.

Ito also said the company will expand carefully because of "prevailing concerns that projected demand may fail to materialize." "The goal is to be as lean as possible," he said, even as he expects demand to stay strong over the next decade. He added that manufacturing costs have nearly doubled over the past few years.

The company has not published a specific capacity target for Savannah itself. The doubling is of floor space. How many more turbines the plant will turn out is a separate question.

MHI is one of three major makers of large gas turbines, alongside GE Vernova and Siemens. Those three produce the majority of the world's gas turbines.

Part of a wider Americas push

The Savannah project is one piece of a broader build-out. Mitsubishi Power has expanded its Power Generation Services headquarters in Orlando, Florida. It plans to open a new corporate headquarters in Lake Mary, Florida, in November, with more facility expansions planned through 2028.

If the 2029 completion estimate holds, the new Savannah space will come online after the 2028 start of the delivery window for turbines already on order. The first groundbreaking date, and any incentive terms with the state or Savannah's development authority, are the next details to come.