Aging equipment maintainability assessment for management of critical utility assets

Today´s electric utilities are confronted with a myriad of challenges that include increased numbers of aging equipment, high operation and maintenance costs, and coping with growing uncertainties. For management of critical utility assets and maintenance planning, all these issues should be addressed to improve equipment reliability under limited budget constraints. This paper proposes an algorithm that enables maintenance impact analysis for aging equipment, which incorporates detailed modeling of equipment deterioration, inspection, both minor and major maintenance. Case studies of maintenance impact analysis and maintenance optimization for maximum equipment reliability are presented. The algorithm provides a quantitative approach to study the impact of maintenance on availability of aging equipment, on making optimum maintenance decisions, while remaining compatible with existing reliability models that can be integrated into utility asset management practices.