Mitsubishi Power is launching five remote operations and maintenance analytics centers in cities around the world to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to improve power plant performance.

The subsidiary of Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries group is locating TOMONI HUB Analytics and Performance Centers at its home manufacturing bases of Takasago and Nagasaki, Japan; near its North America headquarters in Orlando, as well as Alabang, Philippines and Duisberg, Germany. The last hub mentioned will be commissioned by the third quarter.

They will serve all forms of power generation, from steam to gas-turbine combined cycle to renewables, distributed generation, smart energy systems and all-duration energy storage.

One of those types will be the Intermountain Power Project which is building a 840MW power plant that will burn both natural gas and hydrogen.

“We sought a partner that could provide actionable insights to ensure that multiple new technologies are working together to ensure availability and operability,” Jon Christensen, manager of special projects and vice president with Intermountain Power Service Corp. Utah, said. “With the TOMONI HUB, the Intermountain Power Plant will be the smartest, most resilient plant in the Americas when it comes online. It gives us confidence that we will have resources to help us react not only to O&M issues, but also to challenges such as weather extremes and operational flexibility.”

The TOMONI Hubs are extensions of the Mitsubishi Power Remote Monitoring Centers which have provided O&M support for more than 20 years. The hub technologies were tested and validated at the company’s remotely operated T-Point 2 power plant at the Takasago Works in Japan.