TPRI is a research organization being devoted mainly to engineering technologies and equipment of the fossil-fired power plants. Its history can be traced back half century ago, with its name known first as EPRI (Electrical Power Research Institute) of the Ministry of Water Resources and Electrical Power in 1951 and as TPRI of the Ministry of Electrical Power in 1965. In the year of 2001, it was transferred from the government-sponsored institution into a state-owned scientific enterprise of the State Power Corporation of China. It has its name now registered by the State Industrial and Commercial Bureau as the Thermal Power Research Institute (TPRI).

The objectives of TPRI are to improve safe, economic and reliable operation and to reduce pollutants of the fossil-fired power plants in China. Its R&D activities cover the fields of fossil-fired power plant operation, power plant automatic control, auxiliary equipment of power generating units, clean coal power generation and power generation by renewable resources. In the past decades of years, TPRI has undertaken a good number of key and important R/D programs given by government authorities and been very active in many international cooperation projects. As one of the principle research institutions of the Chinese power sector, it has enjoyed a very high reputation for its qualified technical service and consultation and its footprints can be found in almost of the Chinese large-capacity power plants.

It provides technical consultation and services, engineering contract, equipment completion, business trading in the areas of thermal power engineering and equipment, control system of industrial process, chemistry and materials engineering, thermal metrology and testing, environmental protection, energy and water savings. Moreover, its emphasis is laid on research, development, engineering application, dissemination, manufacture and sales of high-tech products related to the above-mentioned.

TPRI has been well equipped with the most advanced instrumentations and testing facilities, such as coal and ash physical/chemical characteristic analyzers, 1MW pulverized coal combustion test plant, 1 MW CFB test plant, pressurized pc gasification and hot gas cleaning test facilities, performance and evaluation test instrumentation of turbine generating units, labs of reference standards of pressure / temperature, labs of chemistry and materials related to thermal power generation, etc.

TPRI hosts a number of industry-related institutions and quality inspection centers, including the standards committees for utility boiler, turbine, chemistry, materials and valves; the faculty committees of Chinese Society of Electrical Engineering for utility boiler, turbine, automation, materials, chemistry, geothermal energy and clean coal power generation; the Quality Inspection Center of Coal Used by Power Generation; the Thermal Metrology Testing Center Authorized by the State Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau.