🇨🇳⚡️🇲🇾 China’s Heavy-Duty Gas Turbines Win Their First Overseas Foothold

Shanghai Electric has secured its first overseas heavy-duty gas turbine order for a 500 MW generating block at Malaysia’s Samalaju power plant. The contract gives the Chinese manufacturer an export foothold backed by a 25-year maintenance agreement, the company says.

The order covers Unit 3 of the planned 1,500 MW complex in Sarawak, where expanding industry needs more electricity. Its combined-cycle design uses a gas turbine to generate power, then captures exhaust heat to drive a steam turbine, extracting more electricity from the same fuel.

Shanghai Electric will handle engineering, procurement and construction. It says it will manufacture all core equipment in-house, including the gas and steam turbines, generators, heat-recovery boilers and air-cooling systems, and service the main equipment for a quarter-century.

That package addresses a practical problem for buyers. Equipment sourced from multiple manufacturers must work together, with responsibility divided across contracts. Shanghai Electric argues that putting manufacturing, integration and maintenance under one supplier can simplify accountability and reduce project risks and costs.

The opening comes as global demand strains heavy-duty turbine supply in a market long dominated by a handful of established manufacturers. Shanghai Electric says it has production capacity available and can offer new units for delivery as early as 2028. That is an offer to prospective customers, not a confirmed delivery date for Samalaju.

The company is also building a regional base to support further expansion. Its Southeast Asia headquarters opened in Kuala Lumpur on September 21, with a remit covering 13 countries and territories across Southeast Asia and Oceania. Local coordination and service capacity matter when customers are committing to equipment expected to operate for decades.

Winning the order is the first commercial step; reliable operation and maintenance will determine whether it leads to repeat business. If Samalaju performs as promised, other utilities gain a stronger alternative supplier, while China gains an overseas reference project for complete power systems and the long-term service contracts that accompany them.

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