The Reliability Weakest Link: Power Systems Safety, Quality, Life Cycle and Maintenance Management

TRC-2020 Presentation 38:52 Minutes

by Alan Ross, Electric Power Reliability Alliance

It’s true that what most people don’t know can eventually hurt them. That homily is significant when it comes to the reliability of electrical systems. While the operational side of asset maintenance and management has been the primary focus of industry and commerce, it’s electrical assets we should consider as the weakest link; leading to unplanned outages, poor budgeting and planning, and ultimately to potential safety, health, and environmental risks that we need not take.

In this presentation, Alan Ross, President of the Electrical Power Reliability Alliance (EPRA), will address the four high-voltage asset classes that lead to the greatest risk of failure, power quality issues and ultimately to overall decreases in OEE and AU at a time when we can least afford these risks.

These issues will be addressed from several perspectives:

• Asset Design
• Operations
• Life cycle management

While the risks are increasing and often overlooked at the corporate level, there are significant new efforts underway to bring electrical system reliability to the forefront. We will present several examples where teams made up of operations, risk managers, procurement, engineering and reliability are addressing these issues, leading to increased reliability and safety and more financially viable long-term capital spending.