Coal

AI System May Save Coal Plant $1 Million Annually

The AI system from Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems was added to Unit 2 at Taiwan Power Company’s Linkou Thermal Power Plant.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) at a coal-fired power plant in Taiwan has yielded improvements in fuel economy that could save the plant up to $1 million a year, tests of an upgraded boiler combustion tuning system show.

The AI system from Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems was added to Unit 2 at Taiwan Power Company’s Linkou Thermal Power Plant. The upgrade added combustion tuning functionality that looks at boiler efficiency, auxiliary power and other fiscal factors to optimize performance.

The AI system is a component of MHPS-TOMONI, a comprehensive digital solutions service designed to optimize the performance of thermal power plants. Two of the three supercritical units are now online. The third is expected to begin commercial production next year. Each unit has a capacity of 800 MW.

Combustion tuning requires a series of adjustments to parameters such as flue-gas emission characteristics, combustion balance, steam temperature and boiler efficiency. The goal is to optimize the process. Employing the AI system during the combustion tuning allowed the system to analyze changes in operating conditions and parameters and then recommend changes.

“As a result, the AI’s suggested parameters led to further improvements in economic efficiency,” MHPS said.