WHITE PAPER:

CHALLENGES OF A CHANGING
INDUSTRY: GOING DIGITALTHE SHIFTING DIGITALLANDSCAPE

relevant as competition continues to drive plant headcountand operating cost reduction while experienced experts retire
and retention of even existing knowledge is a challenge.

How do you lower the cost of electricity and achieveenvironmental and business goals?

There are various options for building the software
infrastructure that is at the heart of a digital power plant.
The first decision to make is whether to develop softwareinternally, invest in a comprehensive software overhaul orpurchase application solutions that build on your existing
software investments. All of which come with their own setof costs and outcomes. The second decision is to prioritize
the challenges that can be cost-effectively addressed andavoid the danger of trying to do too much at once.

The challenges facing the power industry are many and spanfrom pairing with renewables to competing with newer plants
to changing fuel economics. Power plants must adapt andrespond to these challenges to remain viable.
Power plants generate an overwhelming amount of data.
What do you do with it? How can it help overcome yourchallenges?
All of this drives the need for a digitally enhanced power
plant. But, how do you build it? Can an existing plant
become a digital power plant?
A digital power plant applies sensor data and software to do
more than human operators can do alone. This is especiallyThis paper will showcase the strategy used by Mitsubishi
Power to define the digital power plant and create theirdigital solution portfolio, where several factors came
together to create an approach that increases plant
efficiency, flexibility and profitability.2LISTENING TO
THE VOICE OF
THE PLANT
Building a digital power plant starts
with data monitoring. In its infancy,
monitoring of limited data points
allowed for rules-based analytics tobe established based on understanding
the equipment design and operational
profiles. At Mitsubishi Power, more
extensive monitoring began at
T-Point, Mitsubishi Power’s heavily
instrumented, commercial power plantin Takasago, Japan. T-Point was built
in 1997 to help validate new products
in a real, grid-connected power plant.
This type of proactive monitoringmarked the start of a way to capture
and analyze data, creating the voiceof the plant.
Each plant faces different challenges.
Some are based on environmental
factors or operating modes unique tothat plant. Therefore, the experienceof each plant adds valuable feedback
to validate designs and improve O&M
practices from fleet-wide learning.
As a result, Mitsubishi Power saw thepotential of correlating real-timedata from multiple plants to drive
efficient O&M processes and superior
product development.

In 1999, technology evolved andallowed Mitsubishi Power to build a
Remote Monitoring Center (RMC) inTakasago, Japan. The RMC allowed forthe centralized collection and analysis
of fleet-wide data from power plants
around the world and establishedthe foundation of the digital powerplant. The RMC was so successful
in data analysis and improving thereliability of existing and new plantsthat Mitsubishi Power built additional
monitoring centers in Orlando, Florida,USA; Nagasaki, Japan; Duisburg,Germany; and Alabang, Philippines.
As digital technologies evolved,
Mitsubishi Power began using statisticalreasoning analytics to investigate

the relationships between variables
and expanded the ability to use datafrom the plant to make informed
recommendations that proactively
provided customers with expanded
O&M support. This led to more frequentinteraction between Mitsubishi
Power and customer experts. Results
included improved reliability andthe knowledge to support predictive
maintenance, shorter outages andextended outage intervals. Technology
hasn’t stopped evolving. Advances inmachine-learning (ML) and artificial
intelligence (AI) increasingly allow
utilization of algorithms that learn
from data without relying on rulesbased programming and require lesssupport from human experts. This isbecoming a game changer.
As AI and ML technology grew,
Mitsubishi Power sought partnerships
with best-in-class software
companies to implement thesecapabilities into the digital power
plant. This advances O&M support to
optimize performance and, combinedwith the integration of external
factors such as weather forecasts
and anticipated grid conditions,is leading the way to the smarter
power plants of the future.

3FINDING A DIGITAL FIT
Early on, Mitsubishi Power recognized thatpower plant digitalization is not a “one-size-fitsall” solution. They utilized the Users’ Groups togauge the best path for their customers to createa digital power plant. Users’ Group surveys
of power plant owners and operators made it
clear that User strategies differed significantly,
emphasizing the importance of a flexible
approach.

CHANNELING THE VOICE OF
THE CUSTOMER
Data and the knowledge derived from that data areimportant, but they’re just a part of the story. You also needthe voice of the customer. This provides the perspective
needed to create actionable knowledge from the data.
The RMC provided the voice of the plant and created a closer
relationship with customers. Then, Mitsubishi Power Users’Groups and annual Users’ Conferences with owners andoperators around the world facilitated conversations thatshared a broad range of best practices and insights related tothe challenges in the power market and gave Mitsubishi Power
a better understanding and prioritization of customers’ needs.
This close collaboration, combining the power of theequipment design and total plant knowledge of Mitsubishi
Power and the customer’s engineering, operations andmaintenance experts, is proving instrumental in targeting
advancements in digital technology to solve challenges in
the power industry.
Armed with the fleet-wide data and customer feedback,and leveraging technical advancements, Mitsubishi Power
partnered with customers to develop pilot programs to create
digital solutions based on real-world challenges, like thevarying demands of the grid and evolution of competitive
wholesale power markets, which ultimately led to the creationof TOMONI®. Tomoni is a Japanese word meaning “togetherwith” and embodies Mitsubishi Power’s approach to creating
smarter power plants.

One thing that was clear is that most owner/
operators had a strong preference for a data
foundation that was compatible with theexisting control systems, business processes
and software systems they had in place andtheir employees were familiar with. Therefore,
Mitsubishi Power developed a strategy tointegrate TOMONI with customers’ existingdata management infrastructure.
The OSIsoft PI System software is the data
infrastructure most commonly used in thepower industry for collecting and managing
plant process and operational data. Mitsubishi
Power had been using the PI System in RMC
applications for over a decade and, in 2016,
entered into an alliance agreement with OSIsoft
to make its software an integral part of many
TOMONI solutions.
Mitsubishi Power took further steps, working
with several other best-in-class software
companies to expand its portfolio of data
analytics, data visualization and digital control
strategies. It is also leveraging advanced O&M
data management, knowledge accumulationand knowledge-sharing tools to optimize digitaldelivery of O&M support for its customers.
Partnering with leading software providers
accelerates implementation, permits scalability
and reduces the labor and skills required todevelop software independently. Therefore,customers save time and money while
benefiting from a customized solution.

4HARNESSING POTENTIAL
By harnessing plant and fleet-wide data and bringing
together human insights and knowledge fromMitsubishi Power experts and customers, TOMONI
digital solutions are helping plants around the world
lower the cost of electricity and achieve environmentaland business goals.
Driving the future, Mitsubishi Power in 2020
commissioned T-Point 2, their second heavily
instrumented validation plant in Takasago, Japan, toreplace the original T-Point which had been in service
since 1997. This plant is the most advanced GTCC power
plant in the world, fully integrated with TOMONI solutions,and is poised to become the world’s first autonomous
combined-cycle power plant.
FLEXIBLE
O&M
OPTIMIZATIONOPERATIONSSOLUTIONSPERFORMANCEIMPROVEMENTIMPROVEMENTSOLUTIONSFLEXIBLEOPERATIONSOPERATIONSSOLUTIONSDATAFOUNDATIONFOUNDATION& ENABLERS& ENABLERSEVALUATING YOUR FUTUREDATA FOUNDATION& ENABLERS

When deciding on the strategy to create yourdigital power plant, the following evaluation
criteria are imperative:• Consider your end goal in creating a digital
power plant.
• What is/are your problem statement(s) ordesired benefit(s)?
• What are your priorities and timeline?
• How much digitalization is needed for yourexisting plant?
• Consider the advantages and disadvantages ofbuilding solutions through collaboration versus
your own self-development.
• What approach pairs best with the processes
and capabilities you have currently?
• What is needed to accomplish your end goal?
Budget? Infrastructure?
O&M
OPTIMIZATIONPERFORMANCEPERFORMANCEIMPROVEMENTIMPROVEMENTSOLUTIONSFLEXIBLEFLEXIBLE
OPERATIONSOPERATIONSSOLUTIONS 

As you evaluate how to make your power plant
digital, we’re here to help strategize the best options
for your situation.

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
METP-11DS07E2-A