Kansai Electric Power Co. and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems have jointly been awarded a contract by the Japan International Cooperation Agency to assess the potential to improve operations and maintenance practices and capabilities throughout Myanmar’s thermal power generation sector. An investigation will be carried out over the period of about a year to survey the sector so that recommendations can be prepared. JICA commissioned the work in light of perceived poor O&M practices to date and with a view to an expected huge expansion in the country’s power demand, which is set to grow 250% between 2020 and 2030, from 4000 MW to 14000 MW. Part of the brief for Kansai Electric and Mitsubishi Hitachi will be to look at the potential for artificial intelligence and the ‘internet of things’ to aid in O&M.