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Businesses seeking to provide benefits to their customers must understand how assets perform.
FREMONT, CA: Our world's energy landscape has changed due to decarbonization, digitization, deregulation, and electrification trends. As Southeast Asia modernizes, it is predicted that two-thirds of the rise in world energy demand will originate there; analysts predict that more than half of this increase will be satisfied by renewable energy.
Many utilities realize that more than the asset management and maintenance practices they have used for years are required. For utilities, traditional time- and usage-based asset management approaches pose many difficulties that make it difficult to maximize productivity, maintain vital infrastructure, and create a practical long-term asset plan.
Using synergy
The divergence between the planning and trading (commercial) and asset management teams is a typical problem for most energy generators.
The finest possible operational condition of utility assets is the main objective of an asset manager or operator. The trade team's mission is to make sure the utility sells the electricity it produces profitably. Even though alignment between these two groups is essential, it is extremely difficult to establish with a conventional asset management strategy. This is due to the lack of a single platform that allows for data sharing and access.
So, without having full knowledge of market price estimates or other information, the asset manager prepares equipment maintenance. If the two groups do not share the same data, they cannot work together to make choices, resulting in decreased utility production.
Maintaining maximum production levels
The maintenance of optimal production is another ongoing concern for utilities. Asset managers face a more difficult issue when determining how long an asset or component will continue functioning at its peak performance before requiring repair. Operators can, of course, make sure that critical equipment is maintained regularly. Still, an asset manager won't be able to perform a risk/benefit analysis of operating a piece of equipment accurately without sufficient knowledge of its current condition and the effects of the stresses it is subject to. Equipment malfunction or breakdown is a regrettable result of this lack of knowledge. Depending on the asset's importance, there may even be power loss and unanticipated downtime, which may be incredibly costly.
Optimized maintenance
The time-usage-based approach to maintenance that traditional asset management strategies use presents another difficulty. An asset manager must often follow a predetermined inspection, maintenance, and replacement schedule. Sometimes parts are changed before they are worn out or start to affect production. As a result, unneeded downtime occurs, and the usable life of the parts is underestimated. A conflict can occur when an asset needs to be maintained at a period of peak generation. This again reduces utility production.
Possibility to create fresh best practices
The examples above demonstrate how closely a utility's asset management strategy and productivity are related, with productivity gaining significance as market trends continue to shape the competitive landscape. As a result, a utility that changes its asset strategy may experience just as transformative benefits. Fortunately, technology has evolved to offer systems and solutions that enable operators to enhance operations and maintenance and increase the effectiveness of maintenance schedules. These systems and solutions offer newly transparent information about future risk profiles, the capability to test and validate scenarios, and the ability to run simulations. Modern prognostic tools can offer insight into the condition of assets in the future.
