WHITE PAPER:

CREATING THE SMARTER POWER
PLANT OF THE FUTURE
As plants look to lower
operating costs, respondto changing grid demands
and maximize revenue,
intelligent upgrades fromcontrols all the way to AI
will fuel their progress.

EVOLVING POWER MARKETSDEMAND PROGRESSIVETECHNOLOGIESAs global power markets evolve, they demand enhanced
reliability, availability and maintainability, as well as a lower
cost of electricity, and power plants must respond. Today’splants are already benefiting from control upgrades andanalytics that provide O&M optimization, performanceimprovement and flexible operation. As technology advances,
exciting progress is being made on cognitive applications,leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

Making power plants smarter, more cognitive and,ultimately, autonomous will be a big part of meeting
market challenges that include retaining expert knowledge,
pairing with renewable energy sources, lowering operating
costs, responding to lower market prices and finding newopportunities to earn ancillary services revenue.
Mitsubishi Power is driven to tackle those challenges withsmarter technology, and its TOMONI® intelligent power plant
solutions are aimed at steadily progressing toward a smarter
power plant that will be capable of autonomous operation. This
paper will contemplate some of the ways to create a smarter
power plant, knowing that the future holds countless possibilities.

2TURNING DATA INTOACTIONABLE KNOWLEDGE

ADAPTING PLANT
OPERATIONSWith thousands of sensors available in a plant, there are
already a vast number of data points, too many for humananalysis, and the volume continues to grow. This increasing
amount of data must be turned into knowledge and action.
Data analytics and AI enable the consolidation of total plantand fleetwide knowledge to suggest or take optimal actions
instantly. This consolidation of knowledge will give the plant
management team immediate and actionable information
to make more informed decisions and improve long-range
revenue planning for the plant.

A smarter power plant can adapt because it:

The expert knowledge of human engineers, operators anddispatchers has always been at the core of successful
operation and maintenance and continues to be pivotal as
technology advances. Advancements in digital sensing,
control, communication, machine learning and AI areincreasingly enabling enhanced connections between
physical equipment, digital systems and human activities.
In short, a smarter power plant operates as if it had anunlimited number of human experts on site who have fullknowledge of the plant, similar plants from a monitored fleet,the transmission grid, the wholesale power market and thesurrounding environment.

• is self-aware of its limits, current operating status andplant-level operational options• takes corrective action during operation• uses real-time analytics to protect itself while maximizing
revenue and minimizing emissions• automatically alerts of compensation for the operational
effects caused by the aging of critical components andgradual degradation of performance• assesses and quantifies risk, using knowledge from itself
and similar plants, to make important trade-offs based on
profitability and equipment longevity• proactively adjusts important operational parameters to
optimally prepare for predicted weather events such aschanges in ambient temperature and barometric pressure
Having a plant that is adaptive and self-sustaining basedon its own data and fleetwide knowledge allows the plant
management and engineers to focus on the most important
issues and make better long-term asset-management decisions.

Linkou Thermal Power Plant, Taiwan

LINKOU TRIAL
Mitsubishi Power piloted the TOMONI boiler combustion tuning system in theNo. 2 boiler of the Linkou Thermal Power Plant in Taiwan. A successful trial
has proven the effectiveness of action in the designated operating condition.
This digital solution uses machine learning and prediction models to achieve
combustion tuning functionality that supports emission reduction, achieves
an ideal gas/air balance and contributes to economical plant operation whileburning a range of coal compositions.
Advanced machine learning self-tuning systems have been in service forseveral years on Mitsubishi Power gas turbines.

3DIRECTING MAINTENANCE
Maintenance is a key factor in the asset managementof a plant. Equipment aging impacts competitiveness andavailability to dispatch to the grid and take advantage ofother revenue streams. A smarter plant’s ability to accesssystemwide knowledge to recommend the best mix oftime-based, predictive and condition-based maintenance will
increase profitability while extending the life of equipment.
Critical components undergo wear and dimensional changes
during operation and between maintenance outages. This
results in efficiency loss and increasing emissions. A smarter
plant self-adjusts important variables such as turbine disccavity temperatures and critical combustion parameters to
optimally offset these aging effects between outages, as wellas documenting and prioritizing corrective action that shouldtake place at the next planned outage.
Very subtle changes in sensor readings can be used topredict developing problems far earlier than typical power
plant alarm settings, but the overwhelming quantityof sensor data makes it virtually impossible for humanoperators to be aware of all those changes. A smarter power
plant is capable of sensing very small pattern changes
resulting from developing anomalies in the full rangeof sensors in the plant and able to prioritize and optimize
the timing and profit impacts of needed maintenance.

Smarter power plants can:• determine and prioritize maintenance needs based on
system-level implications• assess risk and economic trade-offs of run versus maintain• communicate status and assess risk based on asset
criticality• request human maintenance support when needed toleverage limited resources
Automating maintenance recommendations will allow plants
to plan ahead of issues, which decreases unplanned downtime
and boosts profitability.

TOTAL PLANT DIAGNOSTICS OPTIMIZESASIAN PLANT’S O&M, SAVING ANNUALLY.
The effectiveness of remote monitoring, which applies
advanced analytics and fleetwide learning to reduce bothplanned and unplanned downtime, is well proven on GTCC
plants, with documented savings exceeding $1 million USD
annually. In a recent application to a coal-fired plant in Asia,
43 anomalies were detected in the first year, preventing
seven unplanned outages and identifying seven more
opportunities to reduce thermal performance deterioration.
Mitsubishi Power operates a network of TOMONI HUB
Analytics and Performance Centers worldwide, to support
smarter power plants and other energy systems with a wide rangeof advanced monitoring, diagnostics and support technologies.

4

OPTIMIZING REVENUELOOKING TO THE FUTURE

In addition to operations and maintenance, another driver ofpower plant profitability is its ability to take advantage of newrevenue opportunities. The smarter power plant is awareof neighboring plants, grid congestion, power markets andweather forecasts and able to provide real-time insights
and recommendations based on analytics to optimallysupport the grid and maximize revenue from energy andancillary services markets.

Overall, a smarter power plant is ever-evolving and able toproactively adapt to changes and unforeseen circumstances
to optimize operation and maintenance, sustain cybersecurity
and drive profitability. Some key elements of a smarter
power plant are available today, while many others are being
piloted. Each solution uses real-time data from internal andexternal sources to create actionable knowledge that drives
informed decision-making and, ultimately, profitability.

Noting that some opportunities may not be worth the risk,a smarter plant learns from fleet issues and from similar
plants to benchmark itself. This allows the plant to determine
how to best operate equipment under specific conditions andmake risk-based recommendations.

The Mitsubishi Power vision is to use AI and similarcognitive applications to create individual systems capableof autonomous operation, which are connected to work
cooperatively and create a smarter power plant that canoperate largely without direct human control—with thepotential for far less on-site manpower than today.

For example, during grid disturbances, all plants on theinterconnected grid have an important role to support it.
A smarter power plant is aware of its peak power, frequency
response, ramping and efficiency capabilities relative
to neighboring units on the grid and able to cooperate in
optimally responding in real time to grid disturbances.
A smarter power plant predicts periods of high market prices
and evaluates trade-offs between higher short-term income,component life consumption and increased maintenancecosts to maximize cumulative profits from energy andancillary services markets.

FLEXIBLE
O&M
OPTIMIZATIONOPERATIONSSOLUTIONSPERFORMANCEIMPROVEMENTIMPROVEMENTSOLUTIONSFLEXIBLE
OPERATIONSOPERATIONSSOLUTIONSTechnology is advancing faster than ever, and the energy
market continues to evolve. As this happens, Mitsubishi
Power continues its mission to equip power generatorswith what it takes to meet their changing needs via TOMONI,
a suite of intelligent solutions geared to optimize assets,enhance O&M and enable autonomous operation.
DATA
FOUNDATIONFOUNDATION& ENABLERS& ENABLERS

Just imagine. Soon you may be able to see your power
plant direct its own maintenance, adapt its operations totake corrective action, and seize opportunities to create
more revenue. Smarter technology could make it happen
sooner than you think.

WORLD’S SMARTEST POWER PLANT
Mitsubishi Power’s smarter power plant vision is being implemented in Japan atT-Point 2, a new power plant that entered service in 2020 at the Takasago Works.
It will be alongside the existing T-Point demonstration plant that has contributed
so much over the years to creating the knowledge to maximize GTCC reliability andvalidate new designs, including many of the TOMONI intelligent solutions. Amongother advancements, this new plant will incorporate the latest digital technologies
and will be the flagship for the fleet’s journey toward the autonomous power plantof the future.
DATA FOUNDATION& ENABLERS

O&M
OPTIMIZATIONPERFORMANCEPERFORMANCEIMPROVEMENTIMPROVEMENTSOLUTIONSFLEXIBLEFLEXIBLE
OPERATIONSOPERATIONSSOLUTIONS 

T-Point 2TOMONI® 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-11SD20E2-A