As a task force activity of “Best Practices for Power Generation”, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan and the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan co-hosted a “Peer Review” activity during 16 April – 19 April, 2007.

The objective of the “Best Practices for Power Generation” is to maintain and improve efficiency of power-generation facilities possessed by power generation companies in APP countries by sharing the best practices through activities such as “Site Visits of Power Stations”, “Peer Review Activities”, “Workshops”, and “Capacity- building”.

The goal of the “Peer Review Activities” is to share the best practices of operation and maintenance for aged coal-fired thermal power plants with approximately the same operational periods through such activities as open
and frank discussion among plant engineers with consecutive site visits, development of a database of review items, a check-list for efficiency improvement, and a handbook for wider dissemination of accumulated knowledge.

About 50 participants, most of them plant engineers from the six APP countries, joined the activity. The participants first got together at a hotel conference room in Kobe to have classroom lecture style seminar and discussion. Then, they visited at the Takasago Thermal Power Station of the Electric Power Development Co. Ltd. (J-Power) near Kobe to conduct “Peer Review” activity on site. There, the participants exchanged information, expertise, and experiences in group discussion under the theme of “operation”, “maintenance”, and “environment”. There was also an opportunity for the participants to exchange views regarding to latest technology from various Japanese plant manufactures at exhibition sessions. The participants also visited the state-of-the-art Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station of the Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc. (TEPCO) near Tokyo, and DHC (district heating & cooling) facility called the “Harumi Island Triton Square” of the Tokyo Toshi Service Co. Ltd. as a “Site Visit”.

Issues that were discussed during the activity include “Global warming problems”, “Efforts to maintain/improve thermal efficiency of coal fired power plants”, “Factors that decrease thermal efficiency during the operation, maintenance, and management process”, etc. The participants actively exchanged opinions and the experts shared their experience regarding issues such as actual operation management, turbine maintenance, boiler water chemistry, environmental protection, and ash recycling.

Via this activity, the significance of the Peer Review Activities in sharing thermal efficiency management and environmental protection has been shared among the participants. Recognition of the importance of careful and appropriate daily operational management for the maintenance and improvement of aged power plants has also been fostered. Japan evaluates this activity as the first step towards establishing an international network among power plant engineers and implementing the “Peer Review Activities” as a bottom-up approach consecutively.