Mitsubishi Heavy Industries BrandVoice: The World’s First Autonomous Power Plant Would Be A Win For The Grid

By Johnny Wood

It’s not every day that the sequel surpasses the original. But that’s shaping up to be true for T-Point 2, a next-generation power plant in Takasago, Japan, an hour west of Kobe.

The original facility, known as T-Point, was a game-changer when it opened back in 1997. The demonstration plant enabled Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group to test and validate gas turbines and other equipment in real-world power plant conditions, a significant departure from the industry norm of shop tests and beta sites.

Today, however, the site is home to Mitsubishi Power’s T-Point 2, a newly constructed facility brimming with cutting-edge digital technologies that are expected to make it the world’s first autonomous combined-cycle power plant.

In recognition of this breakthrough in the making for power generation and for the grid itself, Power magazine named it the “2020 Power Plant of the Year.”

T-Point 2 could provide the building blocks for a new breed of smarter, more sustainable and more integrated power plants.

Digital from the start

Operating commercially since the summer of 2020, the gas-fired plant supplies 566MW of power to the regional grid in Japan. But what makes this facility so special is how it supplies power.

Even before it began operating, T-Point 2 was digital to the core: 3D virtual reality simulations of construction were used as the physical plant was constructed. This gives Mitsubishi Power the future capability to simulate assembly procedures and improve productivity and quality control during construction.

This digital focus has continued into the plant’s operation. At the heart of T-Point 2 is Mitsubishi Power’s Tomoni suite of digital power plant solutions, which employs cutting-edge, AI-enabled analytics to automate a wide range of operational processes. Tomoni – the Japanese word for “together” – reflects the importance of collaboration with customers to solve their unique challenges.

Many of T-Point 2’s processes are automated, with many more to come. Algorithms can process information about the life cycle of different component parts and predict maintenance issues before they occur. Triggering an alarm to an on-site or remote operator helps ensure continuity of service, while avoiding costly unplanned outages.

A plant that’s always learning

The transition to a fully automated power facility is the culmination of changes taking place throughout the energy industry and beyond. Although hard hats and engineers will remain a feature, T-Point 2 could eventually become the first power plant capable of operating and maintaining itself. This will be achieved by using AI to process data from Internet of Things (IoT)-connected sensors throughout the power plant to continuously streamline operations and minimize downtime.

“As we move into a digital era, it is important to leverage emerging technologies as much as possible to optimize operations while maximizing economic benefit,” Junichiro Masada, Senior Vice President, co-Chief Technology Officer and Deputy Head of Turbomachinery at Mitsubishi Power, told Power magazine.

“Mitsubishi Power has been implementing Tomoni solutions in T-Point since the early 2000s, starting with the remote monitoring system,” Masada continued. “Since then, our Tomoni technologies have advanced to the point where we can operate remotely with some functions automated. In fact, many of the functions at T-Point 2 are already automated.”

A fully autonomous T-Point 2 would involve the AI-enabled plant automatically optimizing operations and maintenance based on the plant’s own monitoring and learning over time.

For example, the system currently analyzes maintenance plans by studying the lifespan projections of components to predict possible failures in advance. An AI-triggered alarm then alerts a human operator – either on-site or working remotely – who determines the cause of the failure and whether the operation can continue. If not, the employee determines the optimal downtime, arranges parts and checks inventory. In a fully automated future, these tasks could be performed by the plant.

Cyber security takes on heightened importance when power plant systems are fully integrated and operate autonomously − and this isn’t the only challenge. Once the technology is fully developed, it has to become financially viable.

Benefitting the entire power supply chain

The success and financial viability of a fully autonomous power plant is likely to derive from its improving much more than operational efficiency.

Greater digitalization and integration help boost efficiency along the entire power supply chain, from generation to consumption. Less energy is needed to meet existing demand. That means fewer combustion emissions.

Intelligent systems can also help decarbonize the hard-to-abate power generating sector by enabling greater use of renewable energy. Tomoni solutions can help to balance the energy grid to maximize available wind or solar power, with support from gas-fired power generation when needed.

And finally, the coronavirus pandemic has shown how important it is to be able to keep a power plant running with minimal staff on-site, something that T-Point 2 excels at.

Looking ahead, T-Point 2 could provide the building blocks for a new breed of smarter, more sustainable and more integrated power plants – a blueprint for the future of power generation, driven by algorithms and fueled by data.

About the author

Johnny Wood has been a journalist for more than 15 years working in different parts of the world – Asia, Europe and the Middle East. In addition to being an accomplished features writer, he has edited several prestigious lifestyle magazines and corporate publications.