Application of Life Data Analysis in the aging power system

The power distribution system underwent many changes in the recent decades. Because of the changing regulatory and economic conditions, utilities transform their operation and business policies. They are looking for different options to reduce their expenditure while complying with the regulatory and consumer expectations. One of the results of this transformation is the wide application of asset management techniques. The operational costs and reliability of the power system are defined by the properties (type, age, condition and the effectiveness of operation etc.) of the equipment. Due to long operation time, the condition of the equipment is deteriorating. In the electricity system of most of the countries, major part of the devices has reached their designed life. Therefore it is important to estimate the future failures and costs. The application of life data analysis is difficult because of the often poor reliability and availability of data. Usually most of the failure and age distribution data are incomplete. In this paper, life data analysis has been used to estimate the number of future failures with the above mentioned difficulties.