WHITE PAPER:

REMOTE OPERATION AND SUPPORT—THE NEW NORMAL?
Mitsubishi Power experts
provide remote support
to customers from theRemote Monitoring Centerin Orlando, FL, USA

EVOLVING DEMAND FOR
REMOTE TECHNOLOGY
Although operating and maintaining a power plant remotely
is an emerging challenge, remote operations support is nota new concept. Power plants have implemented evolving
remote monitoring and diagnostics technologies over thepast 25 years as they fight to stay reliable and competitive.
The focus was on executing early-warning diagnostics using
advanced analytics and enabling access to off-site technicalexpertise for troubleshooting and response.
While some peaking or renewable-energy plants withrelatively simple systems are already operated remotely
today, the COVID-19 pandemic created challenges for many

more sophisticated power plants. It exposed vulnerabilities
that spurred a demand for more comprehensive remote
O&M solutions. Now, in addition to improving reliability andcompetitiveness, there is a focus on safety and quality
decision-making.
In a pandemic, plants want to minimize the number of peopleon site, including operators, but especially external staff
required for executing inspections and maintenance. And,in some instances, it may not be possible for external staff
to reach the plant. This exposed the importance of having
more digital connectivity and accelerated the need to perform
some level of remote operation and maintenance support,
allowing reduced presence at the plant. In addition to safer
operation in a pandemic, reducing the number of people2

Remote Monitoring Center
Takasago, Japan

coming on and off the site can provide cost savings, reduce
delays and allow plants more flexibility as they cope withworkforce challenges and budget concerns.
A pandemic may be the most dramatic example of anevent that can cause disruption, but history contains otherexamples of severe weather events or civil and social unrest
which gave rise to similar concerns.

ADVANCED ANALYTICS:
THE FOUNDATION
In 1999, Mitsubishi Power built the company’s first Remote
Monitoring Center (RMC) in Takasago, Japan, and several
others have followed. The RMCs allow for the centralized
collection and analysis of fleet-wide data from power
plants around the world and established the foundation forincreasingly digitalized power plants. The RMC was the firststep in the routine utilization of advanced analytics for power
plants. Since then, digital solutions, like the growing TOMONI®
suite of digital solutions, allow plants to leverage the massive
amounts of data from the thousands of sensors in the plant
to provide insights, solve complex problems and maximize
overall power plant performance. Decades of experience
gained from data analytics since 1999, throughout the fleet
and on site at plants, has provided valuable lessons that
lay the foundation for remote operation and increasingly
automated maintenance, planning and support, while
facilitating the training of automated digital operations
support solutions that utilize artificial intelligence (AI) andmachine learning.
Mitsubishi Power’s RMCs in Takasago, Japan, and Orlando,Florida, USA, use integrated analytics to expand the O&M
staff “virtually” by supporting the power plant with a team

SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE SHIFTED IN
PANDEMIC
Altamira II, located in Mexico, had a planned major
outage scheduled for March 2020. The COVID-19
pandemic made it difficult to have the appropriatecrew on site for the inspection and maintenance.
Through a technical relationship between the plantowner and Mitsubishi Power, the team at the RMC
was able to access the data, through an alreadyestablished, cybersecure channel, to suggest a moveof the planned outage to September, defining a new
condition-based maintenance interval and providing
condition-monitoring priorities for the interim period.
This allowed for flexibility and time to plan and bettersupport the outage around the global crisis.

Altamira II, Mexico

3of experts on demand 24/7, 365 days a year. Additional
support is provided by RMCs in Alabang, Philippines, andNagasaki, Japan. This allows for Mitsubishi Power engineers
to troubleshoot and provide recommendations for operationand maintenance by utilizing the data from the plants toanalyze, diagnose and predict operational issues basedon their expertise. Power plants around the world havebenefited from the RMCs. Due to the nature of an RMC, theteam can support multiple plants without ever going on site,a significant advantage during a crisis like the COVID-19
pandemic. The RMC engineers can send settings updates topower plants by providing instructions and procedures forthe on-site staff to implement. And, when a plant experiences
issues, the RMC can support it remotely. The team can also
use the real-time data streaming from the plant to determine
if there is the flexibility to move maintenance schedules to abetter time by working with equipment and plant designers
to provide component-level risk assessments of maintenancedeferral.

VALIDATION AT GRIDCONNECTED PLANTS
In addition to the progress in supporting remote O&M madethrough the RMCs, significant advancement in the developmentof remote O&M technologies has been made and continues
at the grid-connected power plants that Mitsubishi Powerowns and operates. Located in Takasago, Japan, T-Point laid
the groundwork for many of the TOMONI® digital solutions oftoday, including remote operation. The new, digitally enhanced
T-Point 2, which entered full commercial operation in July
2020, already incorporates technologies for remote operation
and backup control rooms on its journey to becoming the first
T-Point 2Takasago, Japan

autonomous power plant. T-Point 2 will utilize a control roomat the Takasago RMC to validate the use of remote operationon an advanced-class gas turbine combined-cycle plant (GTCC)
and its control systems through long-term remote operation.
It is also validating several innovative concepts that automate
plant operation tasks and leverage remote asset performance
management technology throughout the plant and its balanceof plant (BOP) to more effectively manage plant maintenance.
During the construction of T-Point 2, augmented reality wasutilized for site walkthroughs and equipment placement
via mixed-reality headsets. This new approach was used
to validate the technology to qualify it for the ongoing
maintenance of the plant. Being able to observe equipment
condition and have real-time access to design documentation
and remote expert assistance would enable inspections andoutage scope definition with fewer people in person, limiting
exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic or other crises
while still providing subject-matter expertise. This technology
has subsequently been used to support outages at several
customer-owned power plants, accelerating the use of theseremote support technologies and further refining them forbroader adoption at plants around the world. This allows thebest experts to support multiple issues at geographicallyseparated plants without the lost productivity and potential
schedule impacts associated with travel to one plant ata time.
Mitsubishi Power is providing total plant O&M for its own
power plant at T-Point 2 and continues to gain invaluable
experience in applying remote operation and maintenancetechnologies that are minimizing the need for on-site
manpower and leveraging remote technical expertiseon this fully integrated GTCC.

4ADVANCEMENT THROUGH
DIGITALIZATIONThe key role of digitalization is to enable data visibility,
data analytics and automation that improve reliability andproductivity, making power plants more profitable. Remote
operation and maintenance support cannot exist without
proper digital support tools in place. Digitalization is pivotal
to advancing remote technology by reducing the need fora fully staffed, on-site workforce through automation andremote access to expert technical support. This will assist
with a diminishing or less experienced workforce andmanaging crises that affect the workforce, while improving
efficiency, increasing power plant competitiveness andboosting income.
The first and foremost priority of any digitalization initiative
is cybersecure communications and the protection of dataflow. Power plants need a system that protects their ability
to continue to reliably produce power and keep hackers out
while automating the monthly maintenance of the control
systems as much as humanly possible. DIASYS Netmation®
is the Mitsubishi Power control system platform, and recent
upgrades such as the Netmation Secure Gateway and theNetmation Protect Pack, as well as the latest operating
system upgrades, provide compliance with North America’s
NERC-CIP, NIST Cybersecurity Framework and other global
requirements by providing server-level and client-levelsecurity. A global crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic canmagnify cybersecurity issues. Controls upgrades become
even more important to keep a power plant protected.
Once cybersecure connectivity is in place, the data flow
enabled by digitalization makes data-driven condition-based
maintenance and risk assessment of planned maintenancedeferral possible. Such advanced maintenance planning isalways valuable but is vital during emergencies. The option

NETMATION PROTECT PACKThe TOMONI® cybersecurity solution Netmation Protect
Pack stood up to all auditing and scanning testing to date.
Third-party evaluators said that it is the only solution on
the market that truly protects the control system. In 2020,
after extensive evaluation, a large global power producer
concluded that Netmation Protect Pack was morethorough than anything that had been applied previously
in the power industry because of the technology employed
and the comprehensiveness of the system.

to safely postpone or eliminate a planned outage wouldn’t
be possible without data-driven risk assessment anddecision-making. Data from the plant allows engineers
to predict when issues may occur and adjust to a revised
condition-based maintenance schedule that can often
accommodate outside factors like a global pandemic,
weather disruption or social unrest.
Enabling the automation of repetitive activities and recordkeeping through digital solutions is an important step
to shifting an operator’s focus to more imperative tasks
that are more difficult to automate. Understanding theoperator’s regular activities and the amount of time neededfor execution will set the priorities for automated tasks.
Combining automation with more focused on-site operatorsand remote support technology allows for a more effective
on-site team to operate and maintain the plant.
Additional support to help on-site operators focus on things
that only they can do effectively comes from the latest
advances in digital control systems, such as the latest
version of the Mitsubishi Power control platform, Netmation
4S. Among other advancements, “4S” self-performs
continuous system diagnostics and adds capabilities foronline logic simulation and loading, making on-site operators
more productive and increasing opportunities for remotesupport.
Digital solutions to support on-site staffing, such as remote
combustion tuning, have already proven beneficial during theCOVID-19 pandemic. These solutions work through a securegateway to access computers at the plant to see the logic,
manipulate fuel fractions, move load, access the diagnostic
monitoring system and monitor emissions changes. Remoterotor balancing is also being performed at distant sitesthat are difficult to get to, through balancing monitoring
software that enables expert balancing assessments to bemade remotely. Critical activities like combustion tuning and5Remote Support Station inTakasago, Japanbalance weight calculations can now be accomplished by
specialized subject-matter experts without requiring them totravel to the plant. It is also important to be able to remotely
introduce control settings changes, software patches, logic
modifications and other crucial updates. During the COVID-19
pandemic, which limited personnel on site to only those whoare essential, the RMCs were able to give procedures forcontrols updates to the on-site staff to manage the updateand support any issues remotely.

accessed to make decisions. Not only will creating this digital
ecosystem benefit remote technology, but it will also makethe information more readily available on mobile devices,which could transform how business is done today. Without
the digital ecosystem, full automation is not possible, as
humans are relied on to seek out and input the information.
This is another repetitive task that could free up a plant
operator’s time and give them the right information to makedecisions on plant operation and maintenance.

The biggest advantage of providing remote O&M support istiming, even if there is not a major disruption taking place.
With the travel component eliminated, technical experts canwork with more plants in the same amount of time. Becauseof the importance of doing more O&M support remotely andexpanding the reach of its technical expertise, Mitsubishi
Power is focusing on additional technology development inthis area.

FUTURE DIRECTION
FOR TOTAL PLANT
REMOTE OPERATION AND
MAINTENANCE

One such development activity is the creation of a digital
ecosystem that allows rapid digital access to the massof important data related to the plant such as manuals,
procedures, root cause analyses, key maintenance andoperational experience, as well as fleet experience of similar
plants. This will provide further support to on-site O&M
activities and help to fully leverage the benefits from remote
operation and maintenance. This ecosystem includes anoff-site data historian, cloud-based data, digital manuals andinspection reports, in addition to the ability to quickly search
for the appropriate document. Every day, all of these different
data sources, many currently paper-based, are being

While technology is well on its way to enabling remote
operation and maintenance, some important steps areneeded. Robust communications need to be in place
beforehand, so off-site operators and subject-matter experts
can help, making cybersecurity a prerequisite. Cybersecurity
is an ever-changing issue that will need constant support andmaintenance to ensure data and communication channels
remain safe. A secure and stable connection will be criticalas well. A loss in connectivity during remote support could
cause major issues at the plant. Operating procedures willneed to be implemented to ensure the best balance of remoteand local operation, as well as the best balance of automationand human intervention.6The biggest step needed is a real-time integrationof all systems, including integrating and automating
documentation and remote record searching.
There needs to be an updated, centralized resource
to document everything done in the past andthe current settings throughout the power plant.
This all-encompassing record of plant status
and history will fuel AI-based O&M strategies
and is critical to total plant automation. It canbe used to build a virtual model of the plant. By
documenting all changes in a virtual model, a plantcan connect simulation tools to understand theresult of changes before they are made at the plant.
When there is an issue, like a trip, a virtual model
reflecting total plant performance will allow a subject-matter
expert to determine an issue without going on site.

Complex Cooling Airﬂows

ENABLING REAL-TIME OPTIMIZATIONS
Some critical processes that benefit from realtime optimization, such as combustion dynamics
management and part-load heat rate management,
have already been automated using advanced edgecomputing technologies and are able to operateautonomously.

FLEXIBLE
O&M
OPTIMIZATIONOPERATIONSSOLUTIONSPERFORMANCEIMPROVEMENTIMPROVEMENTSOLUTIONSFLEXIBLE
OPERATIONSOPERATIONSSOLUTIONSThe future holds a wealth of opportunities for making
power plants smarter, better supported and more resilient
to disruptions such as global health emergencies, major
weather events and social conflicts. Mitsubishi Power iscommitted to steadily applying the latest technologicaladvances to make those opportunities a reality. At T-Point
2, Mitsubishi Power is validating the building blocks of thesmarter power plant of the future, which will be capable ofvarious levels of remote support and autonomy, and applying
those building blocks to make existing and new power plants
more resilient.
DATAFOUNDATIONFOUNDATION& ENABLERS& ENABLERS

Modern gas turbines utilize complex airflows tomanage energy inputs to the power turbine and perform
cooling of critical rotating and stationary turbine
components. The precise control of these airflows
affects combustion stability and combined cycle systemefficiency, especially during load-following operation
and at partial outputs. Historically manually controlled,these airflows are increasingly controlled automaticallyto provide real-time process optimization. One example
is a TOMONI® digital solution installed on T-Point 2,
GT Cooling Air AI-Optimization, which uses Gaussian
process regression (GPR) machine learning to actively
optimize turbine cooling flow. This improves plant
efficiency, especially during partial-load operation,and eliminates manual cooling airflow adjustments
and potential unplanned downtime.

DATA FOUNDATION& ENABLERS

O&M
OPTIMIZATIONPERFORMANCEPERFORMANCEIMPROVEMENTIMPROVEMENTSOLUTIONSFLEXIBLEFLEXIBLE
OPERATIONSOPERATIONSSOLUTIONS TOMONI® is a suite of intelligent solutions that accelerates decarbonization with power plant design, O&M and system knowledge, together withstrong customer and partner collaborations. TOMONI leverages advanced controls, artiﬁcial intelligence and machine learning with multi-layered
cybersecurity to make energy systems smarter, more proﬁtable and ultimately more autonomous on the road to a sustainable future.

O&M
OPTIMIZATION© Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. All rights reserved. TOMONI® is a registered trademark of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
Mitsubishi Power is a power solutions brand of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Data Foundation & Enablers
O&M Optimization
Performance Improvement
Flexible Operations
MP43-00DS34E2