660

660
Saving through optimised maintenance in air

insulated substations
Working Group
B3.32
June 2016
SAVING THROUGH OPTIMISED
MAINTENANCE IN AIR
INSULATED SUBSTATIONS
WG B3.32
Members
H. Cunningham, Convenor (IE), R. Mign, Secretary (FR),

D. Angell (US), G. Buchs (CH), C. Diaconu (RO), B. Godeau (BE), C. Hille (DE), H. Imaeda (JP),
M. McVey (US), T. Messinger (CA), T. Nishioka (JP), J. Nixon (UK), S. Noguchi (JP), A. Okada (JP),
I. Portugues (UK), S. Prungkhwunmuang (TH), J. Randolph (US), M. Ridgley (AU), D. Sharafi (AU),
S. Shoval (IL), S. Singharerg (TH), E. Stoicescu (RO), P. Tonking (AU), G. Tremouille (FR), I. Ullman (CZ),
A. Wilson (UK), R. Wolf (DE), A. Pharmatrisanti (ID)
Copyright 2016
All rights to this Technical Brochure are retained by CIGRE. It is strictly prohibited to reproduce or provide this publication
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publication may be reproduced or utilized without permission from CIGRE.
Disclaimer notice
CIGRE gives no warranty or assurance about the contents of this publication, nor does it accept any responsibility, as to the
accuracy or exhaustiveness of the information. All implied warranties and conditions are excluded to the maximum extent
permitted by law.
ISBN: 978-2-85873-363-7
SAVING THROUGH OPTIMISED MAINTENANCE IN AIR INSULATED SUBSTATIONS
ISBN: 978-2-85873-363-7
Saving through Optimised Maintenance in Air Insulated Substations
Saving through Optimised

Maintenance in Air Insulated
Substations
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................. III
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................. 1
1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 5
2. DEFINITION OF TECHNICAL TERMS & ABBREVIATIONS ................................................. 7
3. DRIVERS AND ENABLERS FOR REDUCING MAINTENANCE COSTS ............................. 9

3.1. Political and Commercial Pressures ................................................................................... 9
3.2. Regulatory Pressure ........................................................................................................... 9
3.3. Safety and Environmental Legislation ............................................................................... 13
3.4. Aging Asset Bases ............................................................................................................ 13
3.5. Enablers ............................................................................................................................ 13
4. MAINTENANCE STRATEGIES AND THEIR OPTIMISATION ............................................. 23

4.1. Design and Manufacture: its impact on subsequent in-service activities ......................... 23
4.2. Maintenance Strategies .................................................................................................... 24
4.3. Extent of Application of Various Strategies ....................................................................... 29
4.4. Methodology for Preventive Maintenance......................................................................... 30
4.5. Conclusions to this Review of Maintenance Strategies .................................................... 37
5. QUESTIONNAIRE - OVERVIEW OF RESULTS ................................................................... 39

5.1. Background ....................................................................................................................... 39
5.2. General Company Information .......................................................................................... 39
5.3. Asset Life Expectancy ....................................................................................................... 39
5.4. Repair/Replace Decisions ................................................................................................. 41
5.5. Maintenance Strategies .................................................................................................... 43
5.6. Time Based Maintenance ................................................................................................. 44
5.7. Condition Based Maintenance .......................................................................................... 45
5.8. Reliability Centred Maintenance ....................................................................................... 46
5.9. Risk Based Maintenance .................................................................................................. 48
5.10. Implementation of Strategy ............................................................................................ 49
5.11. Evaluation of Maintenance Strategy ............................................................................... 51
5.12. Conclusions from the Questionnaire .............................................................................. 54
6. SPECIFIC ASSET TYPES - EXPERIENCE & RECOMMENDATIONS ................................ 56

6.1. Switchgear ........................................................................................................................ 56
6.2. Reactive Equipment .......................................................................................................... 63
Page iii
6.3. Other Substation Equipment ............................................................................................. 74

6.4. Control and Protection Equipment .................................................................................... 82
6.5. LV AC/DC Auxiliary Equipment ......................................................................................... 84
6.6. Earthing Systems .............................................................................................................. 87
6.7. Fire Suppression Systems ................................................................................................ 87
7. OPTIMISING MAINTENANCE STRATEGY - UTILITY EXPERIENCE ................................ 88

7.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 88
7.2. Savings through Sustainment Strategies .......................................................................... 88
7.3. Savings through Time-based and Predictive Maintenance .............................................. 96
7.4. Saving through Optimised Maintenance Policy ................................................................ 98
7.5. Savings through Reliability-Centred Maintenance .......................................................... 102
7.6. Savings through Bundling Maintenance ......................................................................... 105
7.7. Savings through Modelling Maintenance Cost (Activity Based Costing) ........................ 108
7.8. Savings through Outsourcing .......................................................................................... 110
8. REPLACE AND REFURBISH OPTIMISED DECISIONS ................................................... 114

8.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 114
8.2. Identification of Alternatives ............................................................................................ 115
8.3. Decision Criteria System ................................................................................................. 120
8.4. Additional Considerations ............................................................................................... 121
8.5. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 122
9. UNIFORM AND PRACTICAL MAINTENANCE STANDARDS .......................................... 123

9.1. Contents of a Maintenance Standard ............................................................................. 123
9.2. Who should create Maintenance Standards ................................................................... 124
10. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................... 127
11. BIBLIOGRAPHY/REFERENCES ..................................................................................... 129
12. ANNEXES ......................................................................................................................... 132

12.1. Summary of Enablers for Cost Saving ......................................................................... 133
12.2. Example of Specific Maintenance Standard Document ............................................... 137
12.3. Influence of technical development on the maintenance of SF6 CBs .......................... 140
12.4. Belgium TSO asset management of substation buildings ......................................... 144
12.5. Australia - Repair or Replace Decision Making after failure of an EHV Transformer .. 151
Page iv
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Utilities and Asset Owners throughout the world are faced with higher requirements for reliability of
power delivery. But they also have ageing assets that require increasingly more maintenance and
capital expenditure to sustain, let alone improve the existing levels of service. The objective of this
Working Group has been to review the concepts of sustainment and savings, in particular for Air
Insulated Substations (AIS), with applicability to various types of asset in the substation and in
different jurisdictions.
The environment of change is introduced and many utilities have seen significant company level
changes that have cascaded down from this strategic level to the how and why activities are
undertaken at a substation. These include privatisation and the commercial separation of generation
from the T&D networks, so facilitating an open power market over a wide area. However, competition
and regulation themselves offer new and more substantial opportunities to optimise asset care.
These changes have moved the focus towards performance driven organisations. Company directors
have to meet expectations of stakeholders. The regulator wants to see performance improved whilst
costs and risks are controlled. Evidence of risk management is a legal requirement in some utilities. A
private utility needs to insure against loss and the insurer will also want to see risks managed. Being
privately owned, the shareholders want an acceptable Return-On-Investment on their funding of new
infrastructure assets. Open market and intercontinental trading means competition that is driven by
choice and costs. In this environment ASSETS ARE THE KEY for business success for all service
provider industries. In the business world the assets exist to provide value to the stakeholders. The
lifetime management of assets has become, therefore, the critical activity, particularly for the private
utility.
As a result, the content of the maintenance task has changed fundamentally. It has become one
task in the life-cycle planning for an asset in order that each asset can fulfil its role within the network.
For many their existing networks are aged to the extent that assets are often years older than the
asset life ascribed to them when new. The problem is, therefore, how to optimise sustainment of the
network to ensure a smooth passage into the future and to do this at optimised cost, risk and
performance.
The traditional activity programmed for on site is to undertake planned maintenance to avoid an un-
planned failure in-service. The evolution and trends in maintenance strategies are discussed. New
assets normally come with a warranty from the manufacturer (OEM) that is protected with a routine
time based maintenance (TBM)
regime. This has been derived from
extensive type approval testing; an
activity intended to identify failure
modes and their avoidance by timely
intervention. To cater for all
applications and operational
environments the supplier tends to be
conservative in his selection of time
intervals. All assets of the same design
would then have the same regimen and
what is generally found is that there is
insufficient outage time or workforce to
achieve all such work on all assets
throughout their lives. The
opportunities once the warranty period FIGURE - SCHEMATIC SHOWING EFFECT OF COSTS VS. TIME
is over are, therefore, to extend the INTERVAL
Page 1
time interval or to have different intervals depending upon the role of the asset in the network. But
there is a limit on how far times can be pushed out. An in-service failure will expose the utility to a
range of additional costs (see Figure above)
Loss of an asset is expensive enough - but additional costs can be much higher and may present a
risk level unacceptable to the company.
One strategy is to increase the time interval to an optimum and have measures that will avoid over-
reaching with in-service failures caused by lack of maintenance. A second strategy to avoid this
outcome is to use condition based maintenance (CBM). Here condition assessment is used to identify
the onset of deterioration in condition or performance. How this is applied will depend upon the failure
modes and their rate of development. A trend is the greater use of on-line non-invasive diagnostics to
help reduce the need for outages. These are survey methods that can be used as part of the routine
substation inspection, and to assess the whole site under its operating temperature and loads.
Infrared surveys would identify overheating areas. The use of UHF scanners, acoustic emission
probes and ultra violet cameras can each identify partial discharge and arcing in a range of situations.
Oil and SF6 testing will identify malfunctions in transformers and switchgear. For assets that are
critical to the network or with known deterioration, continuous on-line monitoring can be cost effective.
Outcomes where an issue is identified would include out-of-service investigations, more diagnostics or
internal inspections during an opportune outage. A rectification outage can then be planned more
accurately.
Other strategic approaches include reliability centred maintenance (RCM) and risk based
maintenance (RBM). Both will attempt to focus more effort on the criticality of the asset to the network,
and in the case of RBM the risk of a variety of exposures to business interruption, safety and
environmental impact. This can lead to significant reductions in maintenance workload. In some
industries there are sufficient numbers of similar assets to allow an intervention strategy based on
failure statistics to be applied. In the generation and transmission sectors the Study Committees A1,
A2 and A3 have shown such an approach is difficult. Too many failures can be traced to the OEM at
design or manufacture, and failure causes are so diverse. The option is then to apply RCM and RBM
principles underpinned with diagnostics and a condition assessment.
A questionnaire was undertaken within companies participating in B3 activities. There were 36

responses from 21 countries received and analysed.
This brochure further expands the themes identified in the questionnaire, with WG participants giving
detailed examples or explanations. Some items covered in this brochure include:
Review each of the asset classes and the potential to reduce lifetime costs - from individual
assets to buildings and infrastructure.
Review how different utilities have adopted change in their maintenance strategies through
examples.
A methodology for assessing the business case for replace or refurbish decisions is given.
Utilities need a consistent approach to work across its substation fleet and this is achieved by having
a set of uniform maintenance standards. The background and an example are given in the brochure.
For many utilities the content of the maintenance task has changed fundamentally over recent
years. Each asset has a role within the network and this role needs to be managed throughout its life
to meet the company values of performance, costs, safety, and environment. This drives a
maintenance activity to be just one element in the life cycle, and not an end in itself. It is this change
in focus, together with the introduction of best asset management practices that has led some utilities
to achieve significant cost reductions in the whole investment cycle and improvements in both system
and business performance.
The survey and contributions from utilities described in the brochure have shown savings can be
made through changes.
Page 2
Maintenance strategy: Periodic maintenance activities (TBM) are generally undertaken at

longer intervals than recommended by the OEM. This is aided through service experience
and condition assessment. The combination of TBM and CBM remains the main strategy for
maintenance work. However, under the prospects of increasingly severe financial pressure it
is possible to save further maintenance costs by focussing on network impact, the basis for
RCM and RBM.
Bundling of maintenance: With maintenance outages being so dominant a cause of circuit
unavailability, there is attraction in utilising outages, planned or otherwise, to perform as much
work as possible at that time. This will involve maintaining lists of work outstanding, priority,
impact and allowable time scales.
Processes: It is expected that asset management processes such as described in ISO 55000
will become widespread in use, perhaps even mandatory in some cases. What this will
achieve will be consistent approaches to activities prioritised by risk and business benefit,
leading to significant savings.
Maintenance Standards: Developing uniform and practical standards suitable for all critical
equipment in the system is of paramount importance.
Databases: Accumulation of maintenance records and analyses of failure causes and trends,
the development of alternative diagnostic technologies, data handling, processing and
storage are all indispensable in order to improve maintenance work without losing acceptable
reliability. It is necessary to construct databases that enable utilities to confirm specific
equipment's failure potential, to hold detailed inspection records and failure records for each
asset. Educating engineers who are able to evaluate and analyse failure trends is a significant
factor.
Life-cycle cost management: An important factor that can lead to significant savings. This
should allow selection of new assets consistent with the installed base, allowing uniformity in
tasks, consumables, spares and staff training. Assets with lower requirements for
maintenance can be selected and the usual example is to retire air blast circuit breakers early
and replace with SF6 designs. It will also lead to optimum decisions relating to ongoing
maintenance, refurbishment and replacement.
Computerised maintenance management systems (CMMS): Most electricity utilities now
maintain a computerised maintenance management system (CMMS). This enables them to
manage the significant amount of data now being recorded. With these they can forecast,
plan, track execution and follow-up of maintenance of network assets. This entire data-
information cycle within modern utilities represents a fundamental aspect of managing
maintenance and its cost.
Life-cycle cost management: Maintenance optimisation and savings could only be
realistically achieved once the utility is aware of what elements are predominantly driving
maintenance costs. This should allow selection of new assets consistent with the installed
base, allowing uniformity in tasks, consumables, spares and staff training. Assets with lower
requirements for maintenance can be selected and the usual example is to retire air blast
circuit breakers early and replace with SF6 designs. It will also lead to optimum decisions
relating to ongoing maintenance, refurbishment and replacement. The establishment of an
activity based costing model is a formal process that combines the resources, network assets
and data within the CMMS with the regulatory chart of accounts by which the utility
establishes its financial statements.
A sustainment strategy: This is a strategy that allows not just one initiative to be introduced.
An example showed that by looking at company needs it was possible to implement a wide
range of initiatives and achieve reductions in the annual OPEX budget of 33% over a 15 year
period.
Key performance indicators: Outcome assessment using key performance indicators is
important to assess activity level (costs) with outcomes. Many have used key performance
indicators to achieve this by tracking trends. Others have used benchmarking. These
techniques can lead to improvement approaches.
Page 3
Managing the workforce: The skill base required to manage and undertake the ongoing
asset care is also a sustainment issue to be addressed. Some countries have initiatives to
encourage education of graduates and technicians. This may occur in schools, colleges and
in industry-based training institutes. How the workforce is employed, either in the utility or with
an outsourced provider depends upon the particular local market situation.
Page 4
1. INTRODUCTION
This brochure has been prepared as a review of how optimised maintenance within substations can
lead to improved business performance, whilst still achieving savings in terms of costs and work
undertaken to achieve operational goals.
Utilities and Asset Owners throughout the world have seen significant industry changes over the last
few decades. Both generation sources and service territories have become more flexible though
competition. Privatisation and regulatory controls have also seen a dramatic extension of influence.
These changes have led to greater pressure on costs with higher requirements for reliability of power
delivery from ageing networks. Furthermore, the pool of technical expertise in engineering and
maintenance of these older asset designs is dwindling as the workforce is greying and retiring
before a new generation of engineers has a chance to acquire the required skills. These changes
have moved the focus away from a service orientation towards performance driven organisations. In
this environment ASSETS ARE THE KEY for business success. The assets exist to provide service
function plus value to stakeholders. The management of assets has become, therefore, the critical
organisational activity and many utilities have established an asset management team to hold this
responsibility. This part of the company is responsible to the directors to implement the company
goals on costs, performance and risk exposure. In this context it is easy to see that maintenance is
but one link in the life cycle chain. Reducing costs is more than reducing the maintenance budget, it is
about optimising lifecycle costs. Here maintenance is just one tool, along with other intervention
options.
In this environment it is essential to use expertise from inside and outside the organisation to optimise
the extent of equipment maintenance in substations in order to meet the service level requirement.
Utility income can be affected by circuit unavailability, this is caused by equipment failures/unplanned
outages and (more significantly) by planned outages to undertake maintenance. Controlling these
costs will come from greater understanding of the means to avoid failures and the optimisation of
maintenance strategies. The focus in the past has been on time-based rules for maintenance periods
and determining asset lives. Greater understanding of asset performance has been achieved allowing
optimised maintenance intervals and longer working lives. Ongoing performance achieved through
timely maintenance and asset replacement is managed through condition-based assessment to
determine the likelihood factor of in-service failures. This is part of risk management where the
second factor controlling expenditure is the consequence element, i.e. the extent to which an in-
service failure will cause significant business interruption, cost implications, safety impact or
environmental damage.
Having defined asset strategies linking business values to operational performance throughout the
network is a first step. Next will come purchasing standards to achieve effective life cycle costs. This
needs to link to maintenance standards covering the commissioning and diagnostic methodology, to
identify how and when maintenance is undertaken, and to determine the optimal point of the ageing
equipment replacement or major overhaul.
This brochure endeavours to review the concepts of sustainment, in particular for Air Insulated
Substations (AIS), applicability to various types of equipment in different jurisdictions, methodology of
testing to improve the reliability of the substation but with due regard to both risk and optimisation of
operating and maintenance costs for the Utility or Asset Owners.
Page 5
This brochure discusses:
The drivers for change in the strategies for managing assets.

The development of enablers to assist change and monitor the effects.
The results of a questionnaire and the working group experience on how maintenance
practices have changed on an asset-by-asset basis.
Case studies of how individual companies have changed their site care of assets to meet the
new circumstances.
Guidelines for creating uniform and practical Maintenance Standards for substation
equipment.
Guidelines for Refurbish-versus-Replacement decisions based on life-cycle costs.
Page 6
2. DEFINITION OF TECHNICAL TERMS & ABBREVIATIONS

Since the work in this brochure is directed to identifying cost savings brought about by optimised
maintenance, it is important to have defined descriptions of what is meant by maintenance in the
context of air insulated substations. This brochure will use the definitions as per the international
electrotechnical vocabulary defined in IEC 60050-191 International Electrotechnical Vocabulary.
Chapter 191: Dependability and quality of service. Here, maintenance means the combination of all
technical and administrative actions, including supervision actions, intended to retain an item in, or
restore it to, a state in which it can perform a required function. The several concepts of maintenance
are explained in the Standard where they are structured into dedicated sections.
For example:
a. Maintenance (Section 191-07)

a. maintenance (191-07-01)
b. maintenance policy (191-07-03)
c. preventive maintenance (191-07-07)
d. corrective maintenance (191-07-08)
b. Maintainability and maintenance support performance measures (Section 191-13)
a. maintainability (191-13-01)
In addition to those definitions, the reader may refer here to the following acronyms or the
abbreviations used in this document:
ABC Activity Based Costing

ALARP As Low As Reasonably Practicable
AE Acoustic Emission
AIS Air Insulated Substation
BSI British Standards Institute
CA Condition Assessment
CAPEX Capital Expenditure
CB Circuit Breaker
CBM Condition Based Maintenance values
CM Corrective Maintenance
CMMS Computerised Maintenance Management Systems
CT Current Transformer
CVT Capacitive Voltage Transformer
C&P Control & Protection
DGA Dissolved Gas Analysis
ERP Enterprise Resource Planning
EEC European Economic Community, an organisation existing prior to European
Union
FERC Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (North America)
FMECA Failure Mode Effects and Critically Analysis
GIS Gas Insulated Switchgear
HFCT High Frequency Current Transformer
HV High Voltage
IED Intelligent Electronic Device
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
IEM Investment Evaluation Model
IR Infra-Red
IT Instrument Transformer
ITOMS The International Transmission Operations and Maintenance Study
Page 7
KPI Key Performance Indicator

LCM Leakage Current Monitoring
LED Light Emitting Diode
MAP Maintenance Assurance Program
MaF Major Failure
MiF Minor Failure
MOSA Metal Oxide Surge Arrester
MS Maintenance Standard
MST Maintenance Scheduled Tasks
NPC Net Present Cost
NERC North American Electric Reliability Corporation
NiCad Nickel-Cadmium
NRC Nuclear Regulatory Commission (North America)
OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer
OIP Oil Impregnated Paper
OLTC On-load Tap Changer
OPEX Operational Expenditure
PD Partial Discharge
PDCA Plan Do Check Act
PF Power Factor
PM Preventive Maintenance
PPS Power Producers and Suppliers
PSBR Public Sector Borrowing Requirement
PV Photovoltaic
RBM Risk Based Maintenance
RCM Reliability Centred Maintenance
REA Rural Electrification Administration
RIP Resin Impregnated Paper
SAIDI System Average Interruption Duration Index
SAIFI System Average Interruption Frequency Index
SF6 Sulphur Hexafluoride Gas
SFRA Sweep Frequency Response Analysis
TBM Time Based Maintenance
TEV Transient Earth Voltage
TSO Transmission System Operator
UHF Ultra High Frequency
UV Ultra-violet
VLA Vented Lead Acid
VRLA Valve-regulated Lead Acid
VT Voltage Transformer
Page 8
3. DRIVERS AND ENABLERS FOR REDUCING MAINTENANCE COSTS

The 1980/1990 decades were periods when significant changes emerged in the organisation of many
utilities. These changes were mainly created by governments and involved privatisation, competition
and increased regulation. It also involved breaking the monopoly service provider link between utilities
and their home region or country. In turn this provided a greater focus on the need to compete, to
control costs and to maximise the financial return on the assets invested.
3.1. Political and Commercial Pressures

Prior to these changes many utilities were government owned. This meant that the ability to raise
capital had to be prioritised within a process commonly known as the governments public sector
borrowing requirement (PSBR). This resulted in competing for funds for capital construction against
other unrelated activities such as building hospitals, schools and equipping the military. Privately
owned utilities, however, were structured to run as commercial businesses, able to raise capital in an
open market, and so to borrow against an identified return on the investment achieved within their
business.
There was a need to be seen to encourage competition and improve security through greater use of
interconnections across continents. European directives such as 90/377/EEC and 90/547/EEC
occurred at this time with the aim to create price transparency and power trading across Europe. Key
was the requirement driven by the EEC of a requirement to split generation from the networks and
thereby creating an open market for power trading.
3.2. Regulatory Pressure

3.2.1. General Situation
On a global level there is the more general situation of well-established utilities managing asset bases
that are reaching economic life and in some cases; assets are being managed beyond technical life
by way of lifecycle extension. This can have impacts in both replacement programmes and
operational budgets. In developing economies there is also substantial growth in new networks in
areas where there is no substantial labour force of experienced maintenance technicians.
Operating older equipment may require an increase in both preventative and corrective maintenance
interventions. Both lead to an increase in operating costs over time. There may be increased safety
implications, leading to new problems. It is essential that utilities gain a clear understanding of where
maintenance spending begins to yield a diminishing return and capital replacement of assets
becomes more favourable. Regulatory attitude is important. For some such as in Australia, utilities are
regulated and incentivised to replace assets at economic life to achieve a regulated return on asset.
There is strong encouragement to replace aged assets as opposed to keeping them serviceable well
beyond economic life. This is linked to additional pressure to reduce ongoing operating costs. For
others, such as sectors in USA the requirement is to run-to-failure (see 3.2.2). Replace or undertake a
mid-life refurbishment is an option and again shifting regulatory attitudes can (and do) prevail. In the
case of some new networks, there has been no in-house resources to undertake maintenance
engineering. In this specific situation it has been attractive to contract the OEM to provide several
years of maintenance as part of the initial purchase.
Traditional maintenance strategies (see chapter 4) have limited appeal in the new economic and
regulatory environment. They create higher unit costs for maintenance activities and lead to inefficient
resource utilisation. The traditional practices had been budget driven. A company would identify a
budget level often based on its global reliability performance. They, with or without a regulators help,
would crudely manipulate it on an annual basis, by reducing budgets by a factor retail price index
minus x%. Maintenance under these conditions is then restricted by what can be achieved within the
allocated budget rather than what is needed to meet other business targets.
Page 9
The work focus may be addressed through optimising the tasks with maintenance strategies that are
risk based, as discussed in chapter 4. This will ensure that causes of the highest impact events will
have been identified and addressed with a higher portion of the maintenance resource. But with
integration of asset capital and operational budgets, regulators will no longer want to see ongoing
repairs done on equipment well past useful life. With an ageing asset base, regulators want to see a
phased rejuvenation. Increasing capital expense in itself will, however, apply even great pressure to
reduce maintenance since new assets will likely have a reduced need. (Note: This approach is not the
case in USA, see next section).
These changes moved the focus to development of a more performance-driven organisation. The
new directors in these companies have had to manage the expectations of new stakeholders. The
regulator wants to see performance improved whilst costs and risks are controlled. Risk management
is a fundamental activity in an asset management company and a legal requirement in some utilities
such as those in UK. Without government backing, a private utility needs to insure and the insurer will
also want to see risks managed. Being privately owned, the shareholders want an acceptable
Return-On-Investment in return for funding the building of infrastructure assets. Open market and
inter-continental trading means competition that is more driven by choice and costs.
In this environment ASSETS ARE THE KEY for business success for all service provider industries
such as electricity, telecommunications, rail, gas, water etc. These assets exist to deliver their
technical function but also provide value to the stakeholders. The management of assets has become
the critical activity, particularly for the private utilities. Many now have an integrated unit to provide an
asset management function and manage all aspects of asset care from planning, purchasing,
construction, maintenance and finally removal from service and scrapping. Here the asset
management function needs:
To have agreed and acceptable performance standards.

To work to minimised costs by utilising the workforce efficiently and by taking the optimum
maintain/refurbish/replace option.
To identify and manage the risk exposure.
This leads to a company needing to set and align its business strategy from the board of directors to
the maintenance fitter. The highest level directors must establish their appetite for risk and set
headline targets. Table 3.2-1 is an example extracted from TB 422 (1). It is from such a statement of
values that all business activities ensue:
TABLE 3.2-1 CORE BUSINESS VALUE STATEMENT EXAMPLE
Page 10
Having set these goals the company then needs a tactical asset plan to achieve them. It is then this
plan that will drive future expenditure, including maintenance. To assess and quantify the operation
the company also needs to identify the impact exposure. Table 3.2-2 tabulates exposure as
implemented by a European TSO. Company executives will decide which level of exposure is
acceptable in each category. It is then the role of the asset manager to identify the most cost effective
work programs to meet performance targets within the context of this risk exposure and introduce a
tactical asset plan. This will assess the actual risk within the network taking into account time frames.
It will also involve identifying measures to reduce or manage the risk to as low as reasonably
practicable (ALARP) and to within the levels identified by the executive in their risk statement (Table
3.2-2). It also includes activities to manage the risk, and some such as asset health assessment are
described later.
TABLE 3.2-2 RISK STATEMENT - EXAMPLE
Severity Moderate Serious Severe Catastrophe
Loss of
< 1 M 1 to 10 M 10 to 100 M > 100 M
Profits
Energy Not
< 100 MWh 100 to 1000 MWh 1000 to 10000 MWh > 10 000 MWh
Supplied
Mild Accidents Accidents with injured

Health & Accidents with Fatalities and/or
Dangerous Situations persons permanent
Safety injured persons permanent disabilities
Damage to Goods disabilities
New law based on a

Laws and legal precedent
Noticed by a third Utility legitimacy in
Legal Criminal liability
party - liability question
Obligations Criminal conviction of a
Utility individual staff
Environment
Wide impact or Long-term degradable Permanent Impact
SF6-Oil-Fire- Local impact or short-
middle-term
term degradable Could lead to a loss of Loss of ISO 14000
Endangered degradable
ISO 14000 certification certification
Species
Regional or Regional and

National and regional
Local and temporary. National < 3 days. National 1 to 2 weeks.
> 2 weeks
Expression of external Long-term external
Public Image Few external parties Lots of external official actors (politics, association of public
actors/representatives
complaining about parties complaining state representative)
that greatly affect
Utility or media critics about Utility with that target Utilitys
Utilitys legitimacy
media relays legitimacy
Regulatory Regulator asks for Regulator asks for Regulator asks for a Regulator asks for a
context information a plan of actions change of strategy guardianship of Utility
The commercial change has led to the need to identify what assets exist, where they are in the
network and what is their role relative to business objectives. This leads to decisions as to what
operational and capital expenditure is needed and where it is needed. An asset managers role is to
Page 11
achieve these objectives, but it follows that there is a role for a service provider function that will
perform tasks with a resource level commensurate to the return so identified. The maintenance role
has thereby changed to achieve the performance level required for the differing circuits, to
maintaining safety and environmental standards whilst still undertaking sufficient work to allow a cost
effective rate of return on the capital invested. These wide-ranging changes in organisations and
goals have driven evolution of the role of the maintenance engineer (either from the Asset Owner or a
Service Provider), their targets and the type of maintenance strategy adopted. It also drives the
opportunities to seek more cost effective ways of working.
3.2.2. Regulatory Pressures in USA

Equipment maintenance drivers and philosophy for North America depend on the utility business
organisation. In general there were three different types of utilities in the United States (US), Investor
Owned, Municipal and Rural Electrification Administration (REA). Investor owned utilities are private
companies owned by stockholders and regulated by the state and the federal government. Federal
Government, Municipal and REA utilities are subsidised and regulated by the federal government.
From the year 2000 until 2007 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) worked to
promote an open and competitive energy market in the US. Prior to changes in the competitive
market, electricity rates and most aspects of reliability were controlled and regulated by each of the 50
states. Investor owned utilities were segmented in to three different distinct business units,
Generation, Transmission and Distribution. After the restructuring, distribution providers remained
under the control of the local states, but transmission companies became regulated by the FERC.
Utilities in the US are comprised of any combination of these three businesses. The free market
governs generation companies and their business success revolves around size, cost and availability.
Municipal and Rural Electric Utilities remained virtually the same as government regulated and
subsidised companies.
In North America, standards for performance have been promoted by the utilities and regulatory
agencies by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). The intent is to establish ways
to benchmark and compare utility performance. Performances may be compared year to year as well
as with a peer utility in a region. For example, two of the most significant standards are SAIDI and
SAIFI from IEEE 1336.
For Federal Government Municipal and REA utilities, maintenance practices have not changed
significantly in the last 30 years. Time-based maintenance and replacement-on-failure are the primary
philosophies. Time based maintenance is defined either by guidance provided by the OEM or by the
utilities own asset experience. Little if any replacement-before-failure is performed because there are
no penalties or economic impacts on the utility due to any specific outage. As long as the Federal
Government Municipal or REA utilities meet or exceeds benchmark standards there are no business
drivers to change work practices other than the complaints generated by customers from outages.
3.2.3. Regulatory Pressures in Japan

Japanese utilities had previously managed generation, transmission and distribution within single
organisations, with a monopoly in their power supply area. Liberalisation of the electric power market
began in 2000 allowing Power Producers and Suppliers (PPS) to supply electricity to eligible
customers using the transmission networks of electric power companies. As a result of this change,
utilities were required to use a wheeling charge (intercompany transfer charge) to promote
competition and had to save costs for transmission facilities while securing network reliability.
Maintenance policy for a part of equipment at this time changed from time-based maintenance to
condition-based maintenance.
Much of the equipment installed in the substation was constructed during Japan's high growth period.
These assets are now entering a stage of advanced age. If utilities decide to replace equipment
according to the life expectancy recommended by the manufacturers, they will need to invest heavily
Page 12
over a short period of time. In addition, after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 the amount of
nuclear energy generated has been restricted. This worsened the financial position of Japanese
utilities. Therefore, cost reductions by streamlining the utilities' business operations were required.
Utilities evaluated maintenance cost, the risk of longer-term maintenance of equipment, the rate of
failure etc., and have established an optimised and prioritised replacement policy, which reduces
operational risks as well as ensuring the long-term stability of the investment.
3.3. Safety and Environmental Legislation

Other drivers for efficiency are statutory duties, safety and environmental obligations, improved return
on capital, and internal and external customers needs. This has followed major accidents in a range
of industries, from oilrigs, chemical works and railways all where there was loss of life. Subsequent
government inquiries have identified causes such as lack of maintenance, poor control of activities
and lack of understanding and then managing the operational risks. Remits for regulators often
includes supervision of the management of such risks in industries for which they are responsible.
In response, there will be a need to establish comprehensive and fully integrated strategies, together
with processes and a culture directed at gaining greatest lifetime effectiveness, value, profitability and
return from the asset. The challenge is to provide systematic prioritisation and implementation of
processes, practice, and technical improvements to ensure full compliance with safety, availability,
performance, and quality requirements at the least sustainable cost for business conditions.
3.4. Aging Asset Bases

Generally, electricity assets are being required to remain in service far longer than originally
estimated. The impact on the various asset classes is discussed at length in chapter 6. As a
generalisation there is little evidence of a distinct end of life for a class of assets. Conversely new
assets can have higher failure rates than aged ones. In the case of circuit breakers there is a good
case for a mid-life refurbishment to prolong use by decades. But this will have a business cost and
cases may be made at that point to replace rather than refurbish assets (see chapter 8). There can
also be cases made on strategic grounds to spread the expenditure, and examples are described in
chapter 6. With these failure mode patterns, it is important to have processes in place to manage the
risk of catastrophic failures. One commonly applied process is to perform asset health assessments
as a means of identifying risk and managing replacement. This is discussed in chapter 6 and is also
being studied by other working groups and study committees within A2 and B3.
3.5. Enablers
3.5.1. Standards
Regulators have been keen to see that utilities have processes in place to manage the competing
demands of cost reduction, network performance and the range of risks. It was this that led a range of
utility sectors and their regulators in UK to create a BSI document, against which utilities would be
audited and if suitable, accredited. Successful accreditation is not optional in the UK but is a license
condition. The first version of this publically available specification PAS 55 was issued in 2004 after
being drafted by a group of engineers representing the Institute of Asset Management and the British
Standards Institution. They attempted to follow the approach of ISO 9001, 45001, 14001 and other
similar documents describing management systems such as safety and environmental management.
The second edition came out in 2008 and drafting involved 50 organisations in 15 industries
representing 15 countries. With wider interest developing in the UK document PAS 55, an
international drafting committee worked on the first international asset management standard
ISO 55000 which was issued in February 2014. This clearly creates a move towards a universally
applicable requirement for certification of company processes.
Whilst the impact of ISO 55000 is too early to judge, the impact of PAS 55 can be seen to have been
significant. It had been more than just a test and certify approach. It had been used to fundamentally
Page 13
change organisations which had been founded as service providers into asset focussed ones,
achieving business returns on invested capital whilst understanding and managing risk exposures.
Through a structure of reviewing what activities are taken and how they are prioritised has led
companies to achieve cost savings, simply by adopting a PAS 55 process. Several have claimed
20% reductions in O&M costs. One example was recently documented by the Institute of Asset
Management and their 2014 Achievement Award was given to Instututo Costarricence de Electricidad
for implementing PAS 55 in 26 power generation plants in Costa Rica. The nomination stated:
This project involved implementation of a corporate management system based on PAS 55

across ICEs plants. The approach taken ensured that frontline teams shaped the content and
that cultural changes, such as knowledge sharing and a risk/reliability culture were
embedded. The project has achieved significant benefits, totalling tens of millions of US
dollars and has improved asset availability, reliability and reduced risks.
As part of their work the utilities analysed over 1000 risks and root causes were eliminated or
controlled to levels. This led to over 40 capital projects and 100 risk mitigation options selected and
cost/risk optimised. The outcome has seen an average plant reliability and availability increase by 5%
and the 3 year program costs recovered in 3 months.
The essence of PAS 55 is to ensure that a company has established itself to ensure that there is a
clear line of sight between the organisational strategy and the asset management activities and
implementation. See Figure 3.5-1 that is extracted from the 2008 version of PAS 55. It is from the
focus achieved that improvements and savings are achieved. Maintenance activities are no longer an
end in their own right undertaken within an allocated budget but activities undertaken to ultimately
allow corporate strategies to be achieved and scaled against optimising the return on investment.
Organizational Strategic Plan (OSP)

Vision, mission, values, business policies, stakeholder requirements, goals and risk management
Planning
Organization values, prioritization criteria and risk policy
Asset Management Policy

Mandated requirements, overall intentions/principles and framework for control of asset management
Asset Management Strategy

Long term optimized and sustainable direction for the management of the assets,
to assist in delivery of the organizational strategic plan and apply the asset management policy
Asset Management Objectives

Specific and measurable outcomes required of assets, asset systems and the asset management system
Asset Management Plans

Actions, responsibilities, resources and timescales intended to implement the
asset management strategy and deliver the asset management objectives
Implementation
Assets
Life Cycle Activities
Policies, Strategies
Create/Acquire Portfolio of asset systems

Procedures
Functional
Processes,
Standards,
Utilize
and individual assets
Maintain
Renew/Dispose
FIGURE 3.5-1 EXTRACT FROM PAS 55
Page 14
3.5.2. Resources and Workforce Capability

The personnel undertaking routine maintenance and field operations comprise as much as 60% of the
modern electricity utility and a substantial operational cost to the business. Some organisations have
attempted to controlling costs by reducing manpower but this is a route to be managed with care. This
activity is part of an asset management role; human resources are an asset to be managed as much
as any other company asset. A competitive and productive electricity utility requires a competent and
capable workforce that comprises the appropriate balance of age and skills to effectively conduct
maintenance of assets in an efficient manner. Personnel skills and an ageing workforce is indeed a
significant driver with regard to the maintenance future and should not be overlooked where the
business focus is primarily on cost.
Concerns about the age and skill profile of the power sector have been raised in several major
economies and this has led to government and industry initiatives. In the USA the 2006 Department of
Energy (DOE) Workforce Trends Report recommended to US Congress to Foster math and science
education to build interest in energy-related careers. In the same year NERC acknowledged that
reliability of the power delivery relied on the accumulated experience and technical expertise of those
who design and operate the system. The challenge was to ensure recruitment and training to replace
retiring engineers. On Sept. 21, 2009, the DOE issued a funding opportunity announcement entitled
Recovery Act Workforce Training for the Electric Power Sector. Approximately $100 million was
available for new awards under this announcement. Primary recommendations have been to
encourage power related careers, outreach into schools, funding college training with industry
supporting internships. On the positive side, many young people look to developing transferrable
lifetime skills. The greater utility investment into technology skills such as IT, data management,
together with business analysis has created more interesting and financially rewarding careers for
modern youth. KEMA in 2009 looked at the opportunities for job creation as a result of the smart grid
initiative and reported 140,000 new high value long-term jobs as well as 280,000 short-term project
posts.
Perhaps more than ever, the available skills within the workforce represent a significant future risk. It
really does mean that companies need to be serious when they claim their greatest asset is their
workforce. It also requires companies to focus on their core businesses and match these to
resources, training and succession planning. This must become a key criterion when undertaking any
initiative intended to improve performance in asset care. For example, where outsourcing activities
being considered are core skills for the contractor and utility then both must be equally committed to
long-term training and recruitment.
3.5.3. Decision Support Systems and Data Management

Introduction and use of decision support systems that are of a high quality and accuracy are
significant to the management of maintenance costs. The entire data-information cycle within modern
utilities represents a fundamental aspect of managing maintenance and the cost thereof it is a very
significant enabler to managing maintenance costs. Most electricity utilities now maintain a
computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) that enables them to forecast, plan, track
execution and follow-up of maintenance of network assets. Some utilities combine a CMMS with an
Asset Information System as a single package whereas others distinctly separate the CMMS from the
Asset Information System. In the context of this document, the CMMS has been viewed as a merged
entity with the Asset Information System. The effective implementation and ongoing management of
the organisations CMMS is vital to the provision of accurate information upon which maintenance
decisions could be made.
Key considerations for the management of the CMMS include the following essential elements:
Establishment of a well organised and clearly documented maintenance process that is

consistent with the functioning of the CMMS;
Page 15
A robust CMMS that provides flexibility and ease-of-use for all proponents of the asset
management cycle;
Entry of network asset base data including asset families, assets and their dependencies as
well as equipment attributes to a high degree of accuracy this includes integration with the
asset lifecycle to ensure timely addition of new assets and removal of retired assets;
Establishment and continual update of the resource base available to conduct maintenance.
This includes personnel, fleet and tools relevant to the maintenance function;
Continuous management of the timely and accurate entry of equipment condition and
diagnostic data for the purpose of asset performance management;
Data quality management by way of routine audits of databases and recycling of incorrect
entries; and
Attention to detail and follow-up research of data by asset managers to enable asset status
and health checks to inform strategies for the management of network assets in a timely
manner.
A well-managed CMMS will enable electricity utilities in the pursuit of maintenance cost reduction as
follows:
They provide accurate asset health indicators to minimise risk of catastrophic failure often
this repository resides within the Asset Information System, yet the data entry is via the
CMMS;
They provide good forensic evidence to enable root cause analysis and trending following
failures;
They enable more accurate management of resources that leads to much higher levels of
utilisation and they empower asset managers to make better decisions based upon a greater
degree of information;
The establishment of an activity based costing model combines the resources, network
assets and data within the CMMS with the regulatory chart of accounts by which the utility
establishes its financial statements. The utility can then be aware of what elements are
predominantly driving maintenance costs and as a consequence allow optimisation of tasks;
They provide a robust basis for being able to selectively outsource activities that are not cost
efficient or resource efficient within utilities; and
They enable the management of multiple workforces, both within the utility as well as external
contractors on a common basis further unlocking potential cost saving.
However, contrary to the potential value of a well-maintained CMMS, there has been more loss of
value than any other by poor decision-making precipitated by the lack of data or inaccuracy of data
retained within the CMMS repositories.
3.5.4. Outsourcing Securing Sustainable Contractors

Centralisation of decision-making within an asset management model is clearly the widespread
response to business drivers introduced into utilities. One outcome was for centralised asset
management to identify maintenance priorities and ensure the tasks were delivered in the most cost
effective way. Site based maintenance teams became in effect contractors to implement a plan
against set objectives and deliverables. This is in effect a prelude to an outsourcing process and
many have chosen to continue down this route. In most instances outsourcing can be successful
provided that goals are set to be realistic and achievable, obstacles minimised and suitable
management controls and contracting models are established. Critical to long-term success is the
sustainability of outsourcing contractors.
Starting in 1997 a working group, initially in CIGR Study Committees 23 and 39, and latterly as its
successor B3.06 within the B3 CIGR substations group, tracked changes in management of
maintenance activities, including outsourcing models. The first activity of the group (then a joint SC
23/39 group) was a major international survey. It was completed in 2000 and published as Technical
Page 16
Brochure 152, where several key trends in the management of maintenance tasks were identified (2).
These were to seek efficiencies to manage asset care, introducing tighter controls of budgets, and
most importantly processes for managing business risk exposure. Increased levels of outsourcing
were identified. Further technical brochures and papers at Paris sessions followed the outsourcing
trend [ (2) (3)]. The most recent is TB 607 issued in 2015 (3), which reviews previous work by the
group and describes the contracting process and decision processes to be used at each step.
Drivers such as globalization, increased deregulation, growth in services and technology changes
have forced many companies to reconsider how they conduct their business; and the electricity sector
is no different. An Executive needs to decide what type of company it is to be, and then what core
skills need to be retained within the company.
The utility is usually at least a transmission and/or distribution system operator and all asset
related tasks may or may not be passed to an independent provider. The latter would allow
both to concentrate on their core skills and can lead to cost reductions and two sustainable
companies.
Alternatively the Executive may want more involvement and risk control. Then they may
separate out only some specific activities to be undertaken outside the company.
A key feature of such an analysis has to be a competency mapping (3), asking:
i. Can an activity be delivered more efficiently or effectively through outsourcing?

ii. Does organizational flexibility suffer due to time wasted on non-core functions?
iii. Should the utility procure new skills externally to meet new technology challenges in
preference to creating them in-house?
iv. Has the company tested itself on what to manage, rather than how to manage?
Over the years many different solutions have evolved, some of which are described in section 7.8.
Some provide a system operator function, but with a wholly owned subsidiary responsible for
asset work. This arrangement maintains and sustains all in-house skills and expertise
developed over decades and allows the service provider subsidiary company to develop an
unregulated income with a profitable international portfolio. Several European utilities have
taken this route.
Some have made the same decision as to where to split the activities, but awarded the work
(and workforce) to a totally independent specialist external company who also provides
similar services to other system operators and so gained savings from scale (3).
Some utilities are new companies with new systems. They are starting with no in-house
resource or expertise to perform the asset care tasks. Here outsourcing is logical, either to a
specialist company or to an OEM by rolling some decades of ongoing asset care within the
original capital construction contract. This has been used in the Middle East and is clearly an
optimum solution for some organisations.
Some are based in countries with an active market in providing these services. Generally
there needs to be at least three potential compliant bidders who could bid for each contract to
enable competitive bidding. It is also attractive where the bidders are not dependent on
gaining the one contract. This provides a sustainable workforce to allow unsuccessful
applicants to continue elsewhere and to be available to bid again at renewal time. Australia
appears to have such a situation. With large but long and thin territories it is not easy to
resource asset care centrally. By splitting the service area into a small number of regions,
each having similar work but with their own contracts and provider companies. This method
reduces the risk of poor performance or impact from commercial collapse of any of the
providers.
Outsourcing maintenance activities, where well justified and correctly engineered can lead to
reduction in cost whilst assuring high degree of robustness and sustainability into the long-term for all
Page 17
parties. However, maintenance costs may not necessarily reduce by a significant margin in all cases.
Other factors are often more important than cost alone (See Chapter 5 in TB 607). The utility may
have limited resource and the only option is to rely upon an external provider. The key to success is a
collaborative contract style where both sides achieve their business goals (win-win). A major
limitation is the use of adversarial contracting styles, with the contractor being so driven by cost
reductions that they are unable to invest to innovate or invest in long-term availability of suitable
employees (see section 3.5.2.). A healthy outsourced maintenance service can be costly to establish
and there should be a balance between cost, time and quality. The utility gets what it pays for.
On the downside there are examples where an outsource decision has been reversed. Reasons given
include increased concern that core skills are being lost from the utility, where the contractor is not
meeting required technical or end customer standards. Another reason given is the increased
bureaucracy running a contract situation, but this reason is often cited when comparing with the
earlier system of awarding a budget to a field team and allowing them to spend without due
consideration of business benefit.
3.5.5. Performance Indicators and Benchmarking

Traditionally the Key Performers Indicators are used to determine the size of the maintenance budget
in relation to overall network performance. Using these indictors has value in an ongoing asset
management driven organisation. But in addition to maintenance specific performance indicators, the
following may need to be added:
NETWORK INDICATORS
Key performance indicators are more accepted, often with definitions defined in standards such as the
IEC standard 60050-191 referenced in chapter 2. They would cover measures including:
Reliability of customer supply
Circuit availability, scheduled events and unscheduled events
Power quality the extent of voltage and frequency swings, transients
Service continuity the number and length of outages (transformers, lines etc.)
Service compliance the number of malfunctions (breakers, protection)
Finances
Society, public acceptability
Safety
Environment
The IEEE Standard 1366-1998 defines a number of these performance indicators. As noted earlier,
SAIDI and SAIFI are the most important (system average interruption duration and average
interruption frequency indices). Regulators will often use these indices, but so will utilities. They will
identify tasks in terms of cost and impact on SAIDI, in effect prioritising tasks in terms of criticality as
defined by impact on SAIDI indices. Some utilities will use an analysis of how work at a specific site
will impact on standard reporting measures such as SAIDI [see IEEE Standard 1366-1998] or the
levels of fines imposed by the regulator for energy not supplied.
An example was presented in 2004 by US authors (4), and reproduced here as Figure 3.5-2. A model
was created for costs and SAIDI impact from addressing outages caused by animal intrusion,
lightning, and tree growth. Remedial work would involve fitting animal guards, tree cutting, installing
arresters and maintaining bonding and earthing. Each point on the graph represents costs and impact
on SAIDI for one feeder. Keeping to a fixed budget means those tasks to the left on the figure would
be prioritised. In this way the available budget was used where the impact was greatest.
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FIGURE 3.5-2 MAINTENANCE TASK PRIORITISED BY FEEDER SAIDI
MAINTENANCE SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

These are less established in standards but may assist in managing the cost and effectiveness of
maintenance:
Cumulative % of major offline maintenance completed against seasonal plan;
Cumulative % of major online maintenance completed against plan;
Cumulative % of routine preventative inspection completed to plan;
Workforce assignment level;
Workforce utilisation level;
OPEX variance %;
Workforce productivity level;
QA/QC audits completed against asset and crew competence;
LMCTO (Labour Materials Contracts Tools and Others) against target
Asset Health Index measures for key asset families
BENCHMARKING
Many companies will seek to use such statistics to compare or benchmark performance against cost.
Some will seek an annual trend, or between different operating units of the same company. This leads
to the development of a performance chart with participants allocated into four zones as per Figure
3.5-3. Those providing a high performance level at lowest cost are clearly the highest performers and
those companies whose results are elsewhere on the chart must seek to migrate there in subsequent
surveys. Such an analysis is carried out for a range of operational areas - lines, cables and
substations.
Page 19
FIGURE 3.5-3 BENCHMARKING OUTPUT AND ACTION PLAN
Difficulties in applying benchmarking across continents include the financial aspects such as
reasonableness of currency exchange values, and different accounting systems. Similarly there are
variations in the operational environments (temperatures, climate and vegetation) and legislation
requirements such as relating to safety that may result in an increased maintenance requirement.
There are commercial companies providing such comparative services. However, the whole topic of
attempting to use performance indicators is not well accepted. CIGR reviewed this practice in 2009,
reported in brochure TB 367 (5). There it was concluded that there were too many variables between
companies and their operational environment. This invalidates any simple benchmarking based on
even well-defined indicators. A better solution was for a regulator to ensure that the company was
using the full range of indices, and then to compare the trends.
3.5.6. Technology
There are new technologies continuously appearing on the market with the potential to reduce
maintenance costs associated with equipment. These can be categorised into a number of sub-sets,
namely:
a. New designs of assets intended to produce a simpler and more reliable operation. These are
described in Chapter 6.
b. Crew-Resource Management Technology that improves efficiency of the site workforce.
c. Data management that allows field data to be transmitted to a central store (historian server)
and used to provide a dynamic utilisation of asset data and protection.
d. Expert systems, a growing area that allows predictive analysis of condition data
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Bay or equipment Substation level

level access Network level tools
tools
FIGURE 3.5-4 DIFFERENT LEVELS OF MONITORING OF CONDITION BASED MAINTENANCE VALUES
CREW-RESOURCE MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY

These developments enable the field maintenance engineer or technician to conduct maintenance
activities remotely without having to return to base at the end of the work period. Tablet technology
together with better communication systems, modern developments within CMMS to enable remote
data entry/diagnostics and improved ruggedness of these mobility devices, crew efficiency has
improved substantially. These technologies allow grouping of work by geography and allow real-time
updating of activities. It also achieves a paperless system for the capture of condition and diagnostics.
Likewise, it has substantially improved field operations enabling central dispatch of personnel in real
time. Ultimately this is having a significant impact upon maintenance costs.
Currently major CMMS providers have evolved smart device technology that affords ease of access at
the field level for mobile applications via local cellular telecommunication networks. There are many
case studies of field mobility implementation dating as far back as 2000. There is a growing trend
toward these being standard offerings to utilities.
ONLINE EQUIPMENT DIAGNOSTIC TECHNOLOGY

Solutions for online monitoring, which are supporting condition based maintenance are available for
the following equipment:
Circuit breakers
Power transformers
Surge arresters
Disconnectors
HV insulated cables
Applications are described in Chapter 6. These online condition monitoring systems are occasionally
interfaced with asset management tools, as there is an obvious benefit to have a centralised system
for maintenance team optimisation.
Information coming from Online Condition Monitoring is the most of the time accessible through a web
application at Network level, for the maintenance team.
ASSET INFORMATION SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY

With the advent of ever increasing data streams in modern utilities, there is a growing need to
decipher large databases to extract relevant trends and indicators to enable more efficient
management of the utility asset base. Over the past decade several attempts have been made to
integrate data sets through complex and well-engineered algorithms. Many of these have been highly
successful to the benefit of the utility. Most mainstream CMMS providers have established tools that
afford user selected analysis to determine trends in the performance of assets. Major manufacturers
Page 21
have also joined the trend and established bespoke asset health monitoring systems to afford a wider
perspective of overall asset health. Most tools have reduced the output of these systems to
dashboards that afford significant visibility to non-engineering management with regard to system
health.
Page 22
4. MAINTENANCE STRATEGIES AND THEIR OPTIMISATION

For all utilities a significant key to their commercial success is the effective procurement and
subsequent sustainment, or life management, of company assets. Here both equipment
manufacturers and users have a role to ensure assets are designed, manufactured, operated and
maintained in the most cost effective manner at an acceptable risk level. This will involve strategies to
include:
Procurement of assets designed to be fit for the service level intended and allowing lifetime
care cost management. Lifetime cost optimisation must also include the introduction of new
technologies available from providers.
Lifetime cost analysis should ensure that correct decisions are made relating to the level of
maintenance, together with timing of major refurbishments and end-of-life replacements.
Lifetime care costs need to be considered with due regard for the whole asset base. This will
allow savings in consumables, spares, staff training and, by having a larger asset base of
similar units, statistics allowing a better prediction of timing for interventions such as
Lifetime care levels need to be set appropriate to each application. This will mean variations
in care packages across the asset base and an evolution of maintenance strategies to include
these variations.
4.1. Design and Manufacture: its impact on subsequent in -service

activities
The improvement in equipment reliability is a continuous driver for original equipment manufacturers
(OEMs). Their aim is to reduce life cycle costs through eliminating failure causes and related
maintenance tasks. Reliability based engineering and mathematical modelling at the outset is very
similar to the RCM approaches used later in asset life. Such improvement is achieved with efforts to:
Reduce the number of components

Improve the quality of the components and monitor the supply chain
Building with defined quality processes
Minimise site erection activities. Here equipment is designed to optimise the amount that can
be completely assembled and tested at factory. This may then be delivered fully assembled to
site, or at least large subcomponents that require minimum field assembly.
Identifying failure modes and attempt to design them out.
Minimise intrusive maintenance activities and so lower lifetime costs.
The design and build plan is created against a functional specification where requirements are
defined to be fit for purpose during an anticipated lifetime. The OEM is not supplying goods to last
forever; and there is an integral decision relating to cost versus design requirements. Type approval
testing is critical to determining where the balance is struck.
However, it is assumed that effective preventive activities are required throughout the asset lifetime in
order to achieve the required performance throughout life. Within this context activities may include
adjustments, cleaning of contacts, replacement of worn parts (including gaskets) as well as major
mid-life refurbishments. Maintenance manuals are delivered along with the equipment. These cover
the maintenance requirements as envisioned by the OEM and aimed at ensuring reliability over the
maximum life duration. These preventive maintenance strategies advised by the OEM are mostly time
based.
Page 23
4.2. Maintenance Strategies

The traditional and still widespread view is that maintenance is required to ensure equipment once
installed on site remains fit for service throughout its life. Within this context there are the two well-
accepted main strategies:
Corrective Tasks, basically to repair on failure to perform

Preventive Tasks, within which there has been an evolution into a number of sub categories.
European standard EN 13306 (October 2010) shows this graphically:
FIGURE 4.2-1 HIERARCHICAL MAINTENANCE STRATEGIES DIAGRAM
4.2.1. Corrective Maintenance (CM)

This simplest strategy is where the component is operated until it fails to perform its function.
Maintenance then usually involves a repair or replacement and is undertaken immediately or after
some delay. Ideally there is a corrective action strategy in place to identify the component-
specific action after a failure and whether its timing is deferred or immediate. This decision is
based on risk and network consequences. As identified in the survey of maintenance trends
reported in Technical Brochure 152 (2), for some utilities CM is no longer acceptable as a
deliberate strategy. The consequences include not just the loss of an asset, but also damage to
adjacent assets, outages, and business interruption costs, safety and environmental impacts, all
with a need for regulatory reporting and damage to public image.
4.2.2. Preventative Maintenance

The alternative is to undertake activities that are within the context of the design intent of the OEM
and prevents such an in-service failure. This strategy initially was limited to time-based
maintenance activities undertaken at predetermined intervals as identified by the OEM. The need
to develop beyond this initial strategy had drivers from the changing utility environment and has
been enabled through the structural reorganisations that followed. These latter two aspects are
described in the next chapters. Below is described the preventive strategies themselves.
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TIME BASED MAINTENANCE (TBM)

Time based maintenance is generally carried out at the time intervals recommended by the OEM.
This is often the traditional preventive strategy and derives from requirements in the OEM warranty.
Since the manufacturer designs the same product for a large range of users having a range of
operating environments, the OEM must select worst-case or most-challenging situations. This means
that for most users the maintenance timing is conservatively based. But this approach is justified on
several counts:
The future climatic conditions and service applications are not specified and these could be
severe in some cases.
Operational conditions, such as load factor or short circuit level could approach nominal rated
conditions. The equipment may be subjected to frequent short circuits.
The equipment may be installed in a critical position for the network.
A warranty must be provided for typically 3 to 5 years and some defined maintenance regime
must be specified to protect the OEM.
Thus for the manufacturer and user the TBM schedule typically proposed offers the lowest risk
exposure. It has the significant advantage of being easily planned, which is a consideration if the
maintenance requires an outage.
However, these risk-averse policies do imply higher costs and users generally define their own time
intervals for use once the warranty periods have passed. In some countries user committees have
been formed and have created national maintenance policies. Usually these would have been
indicated by shared service experience and common operating environment. As illustrated in Figure
4.2, costs are clearly reduced by extending the interval but only to the extent that eventually lack of
maintenance will lead to higher costs from in-service failures.
FIGURE 4.2-2 SCHEMATIC SHOWING EFFECT OF COSTS VS. TIME INTERVAL
CONDITION BASED MAINTENANCE (CBM)

A rigid time/duty based regime is likely to lead to unnecessary work being undertaken. It is far better
to identify if, or when, a specific asset is in need of maintenance that would avoid failure in some near
future. The necessary maintenance is performed just-in-time to avoid a failure. This approach is
based on determining the condition of equipment. This would be achieved by monitoring equipment
performance, through inspections or by performing a condition assessment based upon the use of on-
line and off-line diagnostic systems. On-line diagnostics here includes non-invasive surveys, on-line
periodic and continuous monitoring. Each will yield a stream of data for assessment of asset
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condition. Off-line diagnostics have a role both to detect changes that occur over a longer period and
to investigate causes of unusual results from any of the on-line methods.
CBM has its key role where the diagnostics are able to identify problems very early in the deterioration
stage. This will allow a judgment on the state of each element in the circuit end to be made, and so
justify a planned outage for bundled work. But there are some failure modes that the transition time
between a good to failed condition is too rapid to allow intervention. In this case other strategies need
to be applied.
There will be a cost saving due to unnecessary routine TBM maintenance work being avoided. But
there will be increased cost too:
From capital and operating costs of the surveillance methodology selected.

By needing to determine the appropriate response strategy and interpret and handle data.
A higher skill level is required to apply FMECA and then assess the data rather than with time
based work determined by rote.
From a poorer outage and work planning capability, leading to poorer resource utilisation.
There is often a need to align maintenance planning to maximise system availability and fit in with
outage and constraint management. Thus there are practical difficulties trying to do all maintenance
by CBM and why other methods were developed, such as RCM and RBM.
At its simplest, the diagnostics as described above can be used as part of a CBM strategy to
recognise any negative change in performance or condition. It is this that triggers a maintenance task,
and the process is then not dissimilar to using a protection relay. Normally CBM is structured so that
the choice of which diagnostics, how often they are used/interrogated and their assessment is linked
to known failure modes together with the rate of progression from a sound to defective condition. The
process is then embedded within FMECA and is described, for example, in IEC 60812 (6). All OPEX
and CAPEX activities (including replacement) will then be performed according to the condition of the
equipment; usually integrated within an asset health index scoring analysis.
Many utilities applying condition-based decision-making will use forms of asset health reviews, but
there is as yet no agreed protocol. It is most common with transformer fleet management and at the
2014 Paris meeting paper A2-108 (7) described one in use by a UK TSO for its transformer fleet. Here
the requirements are to:
Consolidate all sources of asset information into an integrated view of asset health.
Assess the condition and performance of individual assets.
Produce a score relating to the condition identified and likely timing for any response.
Identify activities such as maintenance, repair or refurbishment that would improve the score.
Where replacement is the preferred option, a condition based asset life plan would involve:
Identify short to medium term priorities for replacement planning (individual units that need, or
are expected to need, replacement).
Predict long-term replacement volumes (enable early identification of potential peaks in
investment requirements).
Provide trend information regarding condition and replacement volumes.
Identify issues, risks and opportunities for the management of the asset fleet.
Generate timely reports for ongoing management attention.
Whilst this approach of CBM is used to indicate condition and deterioration, many utilities have
evolved the process further to incorporate the consequences of failure. Here the actual decision as to
whether or not to intervene and its timing is based on risk assessment, taking into account asset
condition, network impact, safety, environment and business value. It is at this point that CBM has
evolved into Risk Based Maintenance (see below).
Page 26
RELIABILITY CENTRED MAINTENANCE (RCM)

This technique is most attractive where reliability is the dominant driver- e.g. in safety critical
industries. Originally developed for new assets RCM looked to identify risk, and if possible to design it
out, either at the asset or network stage. The latter is an important differentiator from TBM and CBM
strategies in that it includes not only an asset and its deterioration, but its role in a part of a system. It
then identifies the link to the consequences of failure within the system to the network outside. It is
the assessment of system failure modes on the network that leads to prioritisation of tasks, such as
maintenance and asset replacement, together with the choice and timing of condition assessment
tasks that indicate the need for a decision.
A second stage in the application of RCM proved necessary to modify the methodology derived for
new assets and build in service experience, sometimes called a backfit. Undertaking this RCM
process relies upon having knowledgeable site staff able to work in small teams to analyse particular
groups of assets, usually in one physical location (such as a single substation). Application of RCM
can lead to a very site-specific maintenance profile rather than one where maintenance is optimised
over the entire asset population, albeit achieved using significant resource.
The greatest impact of RCM has been in industries where tailored time-based routines can be applied
- where failure rates are well defined and consistent within the equipment category. The birth of RCM
can be traced back to the late 1950s and concerns about aircraft reliability. The evolution of this work
was eventually published as a United Airlines report in 1979 by Nowlan and Heap (8) . Success
brought down costs dramatically for most airlines whilst improving reliability. Originally it was intended
that RCM would be based around the use reliability statistics such as failure rates and life expectancy.
Nowlan and Heap proposed six failure life patterns as shown in Figure 4.2-3, and they derived data
indicating the incidence of each and their data is listed under column UAL. This table is taken from a
more comprehensive US Navy report (9). Other studies in this table include the Broberg report also
relating to aircraft and two others from US Navy.
FIGURE 4.2-3 - FAILURE DATA FROM REFERENCE 3- A PUBLICALLY AVAILABLE US NAVY REPORT.
Even in the classic report from Nowlan and Heap, only a small proportion of failure rates with age
have shown evidence of wear-out. Characteristics A and B are attractive, indicating an onset of
unreliability when failure rates increase significantly. This would allow a concept of a defined lifetime
for an asset group. However, apart from one of the Navy reports, this widely held view is not
substantiated by evaluation. Only Navy values listed under MSDP, showed an age related failure
Page 27
and this was where one cause, saline corrosion dominated. The rest followed a mainly random failure
rate as shown in D, E, and F.
Many have tried to analyse limited failure data for substation assets to demonstrate applicability of a
bathtub-like curve. But where a random failure rate is more appropriate throughout life, the best that
such curves can tell us is how a family of assets perform on the average but not how a specific asset
is going to perform. The main reason is that for complex equipment such as transformers and circuit
breakers there are many causes and modes of failure and each will change in importance over a
lifetime as may be seen in publications in CIGR brochures from A2 and A3 groups. This will lead to
an aggregation of failure characteristics and appearing as a more random failure rate with time when
viewed at a population level. This has led RCM practices to be linked with TBM and CBM methods,
devised after failure mode and effects analysis to indicate the time scales for deterioration of a
specific mode or diagnostics to detect onset of deterioration of each critical mode. This is not to imply
that age-related modes do not occur, but that they need to be managed at an individual asset level.
But there are always going to be exceptions. For some utility assets such as medium voltage cables
the design is fairly homogeneous and here pronounced wear out patterns are typical and failure data
confirms this. Utilities are then able to place a life-limit on age of cables and retire them based on this.
RISK BASED MAINTENANCE (RBM)

RBM develops the system reliability and network impact within RCM to a further stage. In doing so, it
draws upon RCM, CBM, TBM and CM and uses aspects from each, where appropriate. Its goal is to
minimise costs of maintenance to achieve an acceptable performance, to increase the mid- and long-
term profitability under acceptable risk conditions. Thereby a balance is sought between performance,
cost and risk. In practice it means assessing the condition of high-risk components with greater
frequency and thoroughness, and then to maintain in a superior manner. This allows costs for both
actions and consequences to be introduced into the analysis, so leading to optimisation in terms of
return on investment. Perhaps in some situations it really is more cost effective to do nothing and wait
for repair on failure. With RBM the focus is on circuits, sites and equipment, basing the programme of
care on their overall impact. Regulation is an important driver.
Events such as those that lead to reportable loss of supply, energy not served, reduced availability,
unplanned unavailability, average circuit unavailability are key performance indicators. Costs and risk
management complete the triangle of forces that identify the operating regime and should lead to cost
reduction management.
The elements of the approach are:
1. To identify, define and prioritise risks, problems and opportunities

2. To identify cost effective solutions to reduce risk to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP
process). This is to cost out options for maintenance, repair, refurbishment and replacement.
3. To optimise the timing of any intervention as a discrete activity.
4. To optimise the blending or bundling of activities to yield optimum performance.
5. To assemble the business plan to seek approval for the cost implications.
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USING WEAK INFORMATION
Total impact Worst case

(/yr)
Most likely
Best case
Maximum range for decision
FIGURE 4.2-4 PROGRAM OUTPUTS FACTORING IN THE INPUT

UNCERTAINTIES (10)
As with RCM, the application of RBM strategy relies heavily upon the use of proprietary software. One
such package was MACRO developed in an EC Eureka project EU1488. The use of process control
methods is clearly applicable where the assets are very similar with known failure modes and failure
rates that increase after some defined lifetime. But often this does not occur with large assets in the
industry. Sometimes it is because the failure modes are too diverse. Often input data for models is too
imprecise from both total economic impact and reliability. An example of the ongoing MACRO
enhancements to allow for such uncertainties is shown in Figure 4.2-4 (10).
As illustrated in Table 4.2-1 a MACRO analysis made in 1998 in UK demonstrated that changes in the
times for intervention on Frame R air blast circuit breakers, based on this analysis would produce
savings of 27% in direct costs, and increasing to 37% when constraint charges were included (11).
TABLE 4.2-1 APPLICATION OF MACRO TO OPTIMISE TBM TO FRAME R AIR BLAST CB
ACTIVITY EXISTING POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Operation Annual Annual

2.5 - 4 years, optimum 3.5years.
Basic 2 years
Recommendation: 3 years
6 - 10 years, optimum 8 years.
Major 6 years
Recommendation: 9 years
National Policy for
6 years 6 years
Major
4.3. Extent of Application of Various Strategies

Most utilities apply a range of maintenance strategies. This was captured in the survey undertaken by
CIGR and published in 2000 as Brochure 152, (2). The table below is extracted from this brochure:
Page 29
TABLE 4.3-1 MAINTENANCE STRATEGIES IN USE, 2000 SURVEY
Strategy Substation Transformer Line Tower Cable Protection Control
CM 9 8 12 12 16 12 17
TBM 35 35 23 24 17 35 21
CBM-off
26 28 20 16 10 8 6
line
CBM- On
3 7 6 4 3 10 9
line
Total 73 78 61 56 46 65 53
In totality the most common strategy in this 2000 survey was TBM at 35 (48%), with off line CBM
second at 26 (35%), and this can be seen clearly in columns for substations, transformers, lines,
towers. For cables and control equipment the second most used was corrective maintenance.
Responses varied between regions. In Asia 100% of utility respondents used TBM. In South America
the dominant strategy was off-line diagnostics and CBM.
Some 48% (2) responded that they did more maintenance than recommended by the manufacturers.
This was particularly true in lower labour cost countries, Asia, South America and Eastern Europe. In
North America in particular less maintenance was being undertaken.
4.4. Methodology for Preventive Maintenance

Where RCM and even RBM have been used the common outcome has been to decide upon a
maintenance triggered by condition and risk exposure. A starting point is to identify a set of
diagnostics to match failure modes and applied in a periodicity to match the risk exposure.
FIGURE 4.4-1 IMPLEMENTING A CBM MAINTENANCE STRATEGY
A representation of a process is shown in Figure 4.2-1. The first stage is to avoid an outage by
gathering information without a supply interruption. This may involve survey methods applied to a
complete substation, or having pre-installed condition monitoring systems. Where an anomaly is
identified this will trigger rectification if the problem and its solution is clear. If not, prior investigation
Page 30
and testing are undertaken, usually during an opportune outage. The stage 2 investigation and testing
are usually specific to the equipment type and described in chapter 6. Following these tests
negotiations must begin to arrange a suitable outage to maintain or correct the equipment.
4.4.1. Stage 1 In-Service Survey Techniques In Use

Site inspections have long been a feature of site activities. One approach is, therefore, to build upon
the routine patrol and add more non-invasive diagnostic activities. These are all of a survey nature,
i.e. carried out in an energised substation without supply disruption and usually undertaken by a
skilled technician. The timing for these activities will depend on local policy and assessments
undertaken as part of an RCM or RBM programme. If any abnormality is identified a report is issued
and a work order triggered. An advantage of this approach is that all assets on the substation are
reviewed, high value ones like power transformers together with associated disconnectors and
switches.
These activities include several described below. Most are non-invasive. Others may involve taking a
sample for analysis, or coupling a measuring instrument to a pre-installed sensor.
Visual Inspection: This is usually a monthly activity, very traditional but with outcomes now
recorded on a tablet and uploaded daily to server, for store and initiate a planned intervention. It
should identify:
o Security breaches.
o Malfunctions, unusual noise/smell, weather or animal damage/debris, porcelain
damage.
o Noting temperature gauges, feeder load readings, pressure readings, oil levels,
batteries, breaker operations, surge counts, control cubicles sound and
heaters/coolers working (if appropriate).
o Seeking evidence of rusting, oil leaks, water leaks, malfunction of oil containment and
separators.
Thermal Imaging: Usually this is part of an annual inspection but could be more often if RCM
analysis indicates such a requirement. It is mainly poor connection issues that are detected but
also fan operation and faulty insulators in a string. The method is surprisingly effective at
identifying internal problems within assets such as low bushing oil levels, blocked radiator tubes,
faulty internal transformer flux shunts. Ideally it needs a reasonable load to be present to initiate
overheating. It has some complications. In the past the cost of thermal imaging equipment and its
complex nature required specially trained and certified operators. The evolution of these devices
and the dramatic cost reductions now can be undertaken by most field electricians that perform
the patrol/substation inspections.
FIGURE 4.4-2 EXAMPLES OF THERMAL IMAGING TO DETECT CONDITION
Oil test: Oil tests have been performed to identify problems in oil filled equipment for 100 years.
Initially the test was for oil quality and combustible gases. The earlier gas test was often achieved
by trying to ignite gases bled from a Buchholz relay. The development of chromatography in the
Page 31
1955-65 period allowed sophistication and detection of more gases than only hydrogen from the
relay. The common practice now is to sample oil from power transformers, shunt reactors, bulk oil
breakers, CTs and in some cases HV bushings. Sampling is normally without any supply
interruption. Laboratory analysis of an oil sample allows a wide range of diagnostics. These
samples are analysed for dissolved gases (DGA), for oil quality, moisture content, and paper
ageing compounds. Sampling and testing is made with a periodicity varying between 6 and 24
months, depending upon a risk and reliability analysis. More recent applications include portable
instruments developed for both a periodic on-site dissolved gas analysis, and permanently
installed analysers allowing continuous assessment. Some further discussion will follow in the
transformer section in Chapter 6.
Partial Discharge (PD): There are a range of techniques that can be used for on-line diagnoses.
These are shown in Figure 4.4-3. More detailed information can be found in CIGR technical
brochure 444. As with IR and UV scans a degree of expertise is required in application; a degree
of complexity in instrumentation must remain to ensure extraneous signals are correctly identified
and eliminated.
A B C D
FIGURE 4.4-3 PD SURVEY TECHNIQUES IN USE
A. Daylight UV camera. (12)

B. Acoustic emission scanning for PD in metal clad equipment. (13)
C. UHF emission scanning around a circuit breaker using an antenna sensor and a UHF
frequency analyser. (13)
D. Detecting PD levels in a power transformer showing here two different possible
sensors: a UHF probe inserted into an oil valve and also a split HFCT on a neutral
strap. These would be used with a UHF PD detector or frequency scanner shown in
photo C. (13)
UV Cameras: A daylight ultra-violet camera is used in a very similar manner to the infrared
camera but in this application scanning metal work and insulators for light emitted during corona
activity. Clearly there needs to be a line of sight to the PD source.
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FIGURE 4.4-4 UV SPECTRAL RESPONSE AND CORONA AROUND A DEFECTIVE INSULATOR
As shown in Figure 4.4-4, these PD sources produce optical energy predominantly in the UV
spectral range, but as with all light detection methods the use is restricted to external activity.
One European utility has a particular problem with synthetic insulator erosion where there is
concentrated discharge as shown in Figure 4.4-4. Here the UV camera allowed a simple means
for evaluation of the problem.
Acoustic Emission: For PD sources inside metal clad equipment, particularly GIS chambers,
acoustic emission (AE) sensors are used to detect minute vibrations in the chamber walls, as
shown in the B in Figure 4.4-3. Energy from an internal PD radiates from the source as
longitudinal waves in the gas or liquid. The energy is transmitted through the metal containment
walls on impact and then travels in the metal as slower transverse or shear waves. Following
Snells law it is mainly the energy striking fairly normally to the chamber wall that is transmitted
through to create the shear waves in the outer surface. The AE probe is positioned onto the
chamber surface and moved along every 2 metres or so to identify a source. If a source is
detected then the sensor is moved around to maximise the signal level and so the point of
impact. For location in transformers several sensors are used and time of flight methods applied
to locate the source. For GIS applications the probe will also detect movement of free particle
contamination as well as PD. Further details describing the application of contact AE sensors are
included in Chapter 6. As a variant to the contact probe, some have used an AE sensor located
in an optimised microphone held against vent holes in air filled cable boxes and metal clad
switchgear up to 33 kV. This would then detect and locate PD directly from the longitudinal wave.
A version of this method has been with an ultrasonic microphone mounted in a parabolic reflector
and used with a telescope or laser pointer to identify point sources of PD in AIS.
UHF Scanning
(a) A high frequency transient earth voltage (TEV) probe is commonly used to scan metal-
clad equipment in a similar manner to the use of an AE sensor. Here it is detecting
transient skin effect currents flowing in the casing. The PD itself is contained within the
chamber, but it creates a current flow at the defect and this must be part of a circuit
involving the supply and the earth connection. As such a transient earth current is
induced and flows as skin effect current along the inner surface of the chamber, through
any non-conducting breaks, such as gaskets at flanges and along the outer surface on
route to earth. These pulses of current in the outer surface are detected with a UHF
TEV sensor as shown in Figure 4.4-5. By moving the probe along the chamber the
flange and so the chamber section containing the PD may be identified.
Page 33
FIGURE 4.4-5 EXTERNAL TEV CURRENT AND UHF RADIATION FROM FLANGE POSITION IN METAL CLAD
SWITCHGEAR
(b) A faster survey method for both AIS and metal clad equipment is the use of a high
frequency scanner with a matching antenna to detect air-borne radiated UHF signals.
This may be the radiation from the same TEV current in Figure 4.4-5 or in a routine patrol
of a yard as shown in C in Figure 4.4-3. Clearly for metal clad applications it is quicker to
detect in a walk-by than having to make a contact near each flange position. Where PD is
located near to a transformer this may then be investigated or confirmed using either a
split core HFCT around a neutral strap or with a UHF oil valve probe. Both are shown in D
in Figure 4.4-3.
For the air insulated substation the operator walks through the site making scans
between 50 and 1000 MHz adjacent to primary equipment. What the scanner and
antenna are identifying is any radiated UHF from compensating current flowing in the
circuit created with bus runs which are connected to any equipment with PD. Defects in
equipment can produce radiated emissions up to 1000 MHz. What is detected is a
frequency response that depends both on the discharge type and the radiating circuit.
Also detected within AIS, albeit at lower frequencies, perhaps up to 300 MHz, are UHF
emissions produced by external corona and surface discharges. Any telephone and TV
reception will be seen from narrow frequency spikes. Examples are shown in Figure
4.4-6. Both examples are illustrated with a double trace. In a typical AIS there will be
corona and surface discharge which produce similar signal levels throughout the site. A
general site spectrum of this background is taken as the reference for the survey and
shown as the lower traces in both examples. The upper trace in each case is that from
near to the equipment having a PD source. In the first spectrum shown in Figure 4.4-6 the
problem was localised using the antenna and scanner to a connection issue within a
regulating transformer. It was then pinpointed with acoustic emission probes. In the
second unrelated example the problem was traced to a transformer and
investigated/confirmed with the HFCT on the neutral strap, as per image D in. (Here it
was the frequency response of the HFCT that restricted detected signals to below
500 MHz.) The cause was a developing inter-turn fault in the transformer winding.
Page 34
FIGURE 4.4-6 IDENTIFYING PD WITH A FREQUENCY UHF SCANNER, (A) WITH AN ANTENNA INPUT, (B) WITH A
300MHZ HFCT ON A TRANSFORMER NEUTRAL STRAP
In each case lower traces are general levels around the substation, including TV and radio
communications.
(c) Internal sensors are sometimes fitted in GIS and transformers. These may be used for
permanent monitoring, or for periodic measurements. In some cases sensors can be retro-
fitted as with the transformer oil valve probe shown in Figure 4.4-3, or for GIS strapped to
surfaces of inspection windows or onto insulating spacers.
Other survey methods: Several other useful techniques are in use. This includes gas analysis
for SF6 systems, gas leakage detectors and locators, surge arrester performance using
compensated third harmonic current measurement, timing measurements for circuit breakers and
tap changers, secondary voltage measurements for CVTs. These are apparatus specific and
described in Chapter 6.
4.4.2. Stage 1 In-Service Permanent On-line Installations

The foregoing relates to periodic measurements using non-invasive systems of a survey nature. A
further alternative must include permanent diagnostic installations where the output or an alarm is
transmitted to an operator for initiating maintenance or de-energisation. Included in this category are
systems such as those measuring changes in bushing power factor/capacitance, on-line dissolved
gas analysers on transformers, and PD measurements using probes in rotating machines, GIS and
more recently transformers. In general these have been standalone systems, working independently
of other data gathering on site, often with vendor specific analysis systems and data protocols. Some
on-line monitoring systems merely report data; others use expert systems to interpret the data at site,
thereby reducing the need to transmit large amounts of raw data.
This CBM data can be displayed in its raw form with alert levels, or after processing and application of
expert systems either at the asset or either on the substation or a remote server.
At an asset level, on-line continuous monitoring levels at individual asset levels such as:
Partial discharge in GIS is the most widely used of these systems, with many vendors and
many systems installed around the world over the last 30 years.
Bushing power factor, with the lead vendor having 10,000 bushings under surveillance over a
10 year period.
Partial discharge used on a transformer or cable system is a more recent trend
SF6 gas and dissolved gas-in-oil analyses
SF6 / CB timing trend analysis
Page 35
On a Substation server, on-line continuous monitoring outcomes specific to one type of diagnostics
such as:
Permanent display of monitoring status/ alerts from a variety of diagnostics identified by asset
and bay
Database with all events
SF6 density thresholds of all compartments
Temperature of all compartments
Internal arc detection
Partial discharge acquisition
Combined diagnosis - an asset condition based upon an expert system using integration of all data,
from on-line and periodic sensing, from protection system alerts. These would be used:
For network control- Assets which are normal and can be operated normally
For network control- Assets identified which are showing an alert and some operational
restriction may apply
For asset management- Assets identified which are showing an alert and require
investigation, repair or replacement
The technology issues in applying such continuous on-line diagnostics are considerable, and it is a
higher cost option. However, over recent years some of these technology issues have advanced,
particularly with respect to sensors, data capture, handling and storage. The trend is away from stand-
alone and vendor specific systems and towards outcomes routed to the substation server, there to be
integrated with other operational data. This is becoming easier with a common platform of IEC 61850
(14) and there is ongoing work within IEC TC57 to develop new asset classes in the common
information model to allow common access to all data that can be used for condition assessment.
This feature will allow condition data to be integrated with operational conditions for correlating
condition data to load or switching. This having been achieved, condition monitoring can be used not
only by the asset manager for maintenance and replacement planning, but also by the network
operators for active system management. The long-term reliability of systems has been an issue in
the past, and some remain so. Many are emerging technologies and the expert systems continue to
be improved.
TB 462 (15) has case studies describing implementations by TSOs in the UK and Czech Republic.
This brochure includes a survey where 78% of respondents were fitting on-line monitors in the
expectation of achieving lower costs by deferring maintenance to when it was needed. Figure 4.4-7
taken from TB 462 demonstrates the level of data integration that some are implementing.
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FIGURE 4.4-7 INTEGRATED CBM PLATFORM
4.4.3. Stage 2 Off-line Analysis and Diagnostics

Whatever inspection, survey or continuous analysis method is used, the assessment is to identify a
change in behaviour. Outcomes may indicate timings for maintenance throughout most of life, and
eventually trigger refurbishment or replacement. Once equipment is removed from service for some
maintenance work it would be normal to undertake investigative testing. Recent close-up faults might
have damaged a transformer winding. This would be a time to undertake sweep frequency response
analysis. It would also be time for power factor and capacitance measurements, particularly on
bushings and instrument transformers (see Chapter 6).
4.5. Conclusions to this Review of Maintenance Strategies

It is clear that there exists a mix of maintenance strategies in use and this will continue for the future,
albeit with differing proportions. Some eventual migration to a single strategy is unlikely.
The most advanced utilities use a mix of strategies driven by criticality and risk but tempered with the
practicalities and economics of planning maintenance and maximising equipment availability. With the
greater understanding of assets, their condition, performance and cost of use there will be
opportunities to focus resources where they are needed. Often this will lead to cost savings in the
totality, but in some specific areas may increase cost of ownership.
It will always be more economic to repair low impact or low criticality equipment after it has failed so
giving some limited application of CM. There is likely always to be a place for TBM that enables a
predictable resource and access pattern. There will be increasing opportunity to use condition-based
maintenance, with both off-line and on-line diagnostics. In the latter case asset condition can be
transmitted to a control room as with relay outputs for protection. As reliability of on-line diagnostic
devices improves their development will be to integrate data from a variety of diagnostic systems,
perhaps pulling together condition relative to load, temperature, weather etc. This would then lead to
dynamic asset health displays. The ability to integrate data sources on a substation level remains a
problem to be overcome. This is a semantics issue due to varying protocols in use such as common
information model and asset specific, for example IEC 61850 (14) and its diverse predecessors. For
circuit breakers and tap changers their wear out failure modes may be subject to a better use of
failure statistics, and so amenable to reliability based assessment.
The best performers will recognise that whatever mix of preventive maintenance strategies they need
to have an asset mitigation plan with the appropriate actions to maintain, repair, replace or simply to
protect against the more catastrophic consequences of an in-service failure. This will take into
Page 37
account the opportunities within a wider business environment, ensuring that the strategies make best
use of downtime for example by forecasting the work requirement to be undertaken at the next
intervention opportunity. Understanding the mix, and using the appropriate tool for the job is likely to
be a differentiator, and increasingly being able to demonstrate and support the rationale is going to be
expected in a world increasingly conscious of the need to manage risk.
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5. QUESTIONNAIRE - OVERVIEW OF RESULTS

5.1. Background
As part of our research into practices in management and maintenance of substations WG B3.32
completed a questionnaire. This chapter outlines the findings from this questionnaire.
The questionnaire was divided in to the following sections:

General Company Information
Asset Life Expectancy
Repair/Replace Decisions
Maintenance Strategies
Implementation of Strategy
Evaluation of Strategy
5.2. General Company Information

36 responses from 21 countries were received and analysed for this brochure. Figure 5.2-1 illustrates
global location of which responses were received:
FIGURE 5.2-1 WORLD DISTRIBUTION OF QUESTIONNAIRE ANSWERS
The size of utilities who responded varied from ~50 to in excess of 3,000 substations.
The majority of responding utilities were from a regulated environment (69%). 56% were privately
owned utilities.
5.3. Asset Life Expectancy

The working group requested respondents to give estimates for the current asset life expectancy of
various items of plant. Figure 5.3-1 illustrates responses:
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FIGURE 5.3-1 SWITCHING AND REACTIVE EQUIPMENT
Many respondents estimate that switching equipment life expectancy was over 20 years and reactive
equipment was over 30 years.
We requested respondents to give estimates for the current asset life expectancy of substation AC
and DC auxiliary systems. The responses to this question indicated that for AC systems life
expectancy was generally in excess of 30 years (45%). However for DC systems the life expectancy
varies significantly for individual components of the system through the majority result was that 47%
of respondents estimate DC system life expectancy of 20-25 years along with 32% indicating less
than 20 years.
We asked the question what combination of factors most often determines end-of-life of reactive
equipment, switching equipment and auxiliary (AC and DC) systems? The following table illustrates
the top 4 factors for each looking at the top 2 factors selected by respondents.
TABLE 5.3-1 FACTORS THAT DETERMINE END-OF-LIFE FOR SWITCHING EQUIPMENT
Importance of factors Switching Equipment
1 In-service failure of device
2 Age of equipment
=3 Main parameters or system changes beyond

original rating of equipment
=3 Number of operations (mechanical/electrical)
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TABLE 5.3-2 FACTORS THAT DETERMINE END-OF-LIFE FOR REACTIVE EQUIPMENT
Importance of factors Reactive Equipment
1 In-service failure of equipment
2 Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA)
3 Age of equipment
4 Safety/environmental concerns
TABLE 5.3-3 FACTORS THAT DETERMINE END-OF-LIFE FOR AC/DC AUXILIARY SYSTEMS
Importance of factors AC/DC Systems
1 Terminal equipment failure
2 Age of equipment
3 Unavailability of parts/technical support from

OEM
4 Safety/environmental concerns
In-service failure was the top rank of factors for end-of-life of each equipment question.
The question was asked is the sustainment program in substations coordinated with the
capital/growth program in your utility? The majority of respondents (83.6%) indicated that yes, there
is coordination between these programs.
5.4. Repair/Replace Decisions

Most respondents indicate that they have a continuous program to replace/overhaul aging equipment
in their substations (88.9%). When faced with a choice between refurbishment or replacement, most
respondents indicated that the most frequent decision was to replace (87.1%). Comments received
however indicate that additional consideration is required.
The most common tools used to make repair/replace decisions are as follows when looking at the top
2 ranked responses:
TABLE 5.4-1 TOOLS TO ASSIST WITH REPAIR/REPLACE DECISIONS
Ranking Repair/Replace Decisions
1 Life Cycle Cost Analysis
2 Risk Analysis
3 Cost/Benefit Evaluation
4 Company Policy
We also requested some detail from respondents on their means of controlling replacement costs.
Figure 5.4-1 illustrates responses:
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Do you try to control replacement costs by:
80,0%
70,0%
60,0%
50,0%
40,0%
30,0%
20,0%
10,0%
0,0%
Use of pre-qualified
equipment blanket orders
replacement in substations
breakers/disconnects/CTs
such as MTS to replace
Grouping equipment for
or replacing whole AIS

Using new technology
to reduce labour cost
contractors
Use of long term
with GIS
FIGURE 5.4-1 ITEMS USED TO CONTROL REPLACEMENT COSTS
76% of respondents apply grouping equipment for replacement in substations to reduce labour cost.
Figure 5.4-2 below illustrates a marginal preference to specify high ratings when replacing equipment:
When replacing equipment, do you specify identical ratings with the

equipment that is being replaced or if cost is only incremental higher
ratings to provide for future expansions and lower maintenance costs?
We specify identical ratings

42,9%
We specify higher ratings
54,3%
We specify lower ratings
FIGURE 5.4-2 SPECIFICATION OF RATINGS FOR REPLACEMENT EQUIPMENT
43% of the respondents indicate that they replace equipment using similar ratings while 54% use new
equipment with higher ratings.
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71.4% of respondents indicate that when they experience unexpected failures, replacement occurs
under their sustainment program rather than capital/growth program.
5.5. Maintenance Strategies

When asked to rank importance of the factors at the time of determining your maintenance policy,
reliability was deemed most important with public safety second ranked choice.
Respondents have indicated that the most common factors which influence the maintenance budget
are:
1. Deterioration of transmission system performance

2. Regulatory decisions
3. Implementation of policy decisions
4. Availability of revenue funds
5. Increased loading of transmission system
6. Changing customer requirements
7. Overall demanding targets
When asked which are the most important maintenance strategies a utility employed for various items
of plant, the responses favoured time based and condition based primarily. Overview of responses
shown in Figure 5.5-1below:
Which are the most important maintenance strategies or combination of

maintenance strategies do you employ for the following items of equipment
(multiple selections accepted)?
90
80
70
60
50
40 Corrective
30
20 Time Based
10
0 Condition Based
Reliability Centred
Risk Based
Other
FIGURE 5.5-1 MOST IMPORTANT STRATEGIES EMPLOYED
72.2% of respondents have indicated that they have implemented changes to their maintenance
strategy in the past 10 years. Comments received indicate that many have moved from a time-based
strategy to a more analytical approach with condition based and/or reliability centred maintenance
strategies.
Many utilities (47.2%) have also indicated that they are considering changes to their maintenance
strategies with comments indicating moves towards reliability/condition and risk based strategies
under consideration.
Most utilities have indicated that they have maintenance policies for major equipment types (83.3%)
rather than specific equipment models (16.7%). Figure 5.5-2 below illustrates the responses to the
interval between reviews of maintenance standards:
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How often do you review/revise the major equipment maintenance

standards?
8,3%
Once a year
38,9% Between 1 and 5 years
38,9% Between 6 and 10 years
Only as required
13,9%
FIGURE 5.5-2 INTERVAL BETWEEN REVIEW/REVISION OF MAINTENANCE STANDARDS
5.6. Time Based Maintenance

For utilities implementing a time based maintenance strategy we asked some specific questions on
this topic. 71.4% of respondents indicated that they do not adhere to manufacturers original
recommendations for maintenance intervals. Figure 5.6-1 below indicates that most utilities have
increased the intervals between maintenance when compared to OEM recommendations:
Where you continue with Time Based Maintenance Strategies have you
increased or decreased the maintenance intervals originally determined, or
recommended by the OEM, at installation?
35
30
25
Increased
20
Decreased
15
No change
10
5
0
FIGURE 5.6-1 INCREASES OR DECREASES IN MAINTENANCE INTERVALS FROM OEM RECOMMENDATIONS
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When asked if utilities are considering changes to maintenance intervals, the response was mixed
with 40% indicating that they were and 60% indicating that they were not.
5.7. Condition Based Maintenance

For utilities that use CBM we asked on which equipment types is this applied. Results of this question
are illustrated in Figure 5.7-1:
Which of the following equipment types do you apply condition based

maintenace strategy ?
70
60
50 Yes
40 No
30 On line monitoring
Off line monitoring
20
10
0
FIGURE 5.7-1 Application of CBM strategy
Over 80% of respondents apply CBM on Power Transformer (81%) and SF6 Circuit Breaker (82%).
We also asked whether on-line or off-line monitoring was used. Results indicated in Figure 5.7-2:
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Where you apply condition based maintenance do you use on line or off line
monitoring?
70
60
50 Yes
40 No
30 On line monitoring
Off line monitoring
20
10
0
FIGURE 5.7-2 APPLICATION OF ON-LINE OR OFF-LINE MONITORING
It can be seen from these results that on-line monitoring is generally only applied to power
transformers/reactors or SF6 CBs.
When asked the question as to what savings have been achieved by adopting a CBM focused
strategy several respondents have indicated saving of 10-15%, with comments that this has also
resulted in savings in labours costs, spare parts and reduced outages.
5.8. Reliability Centred Maintenance

For utilities that used a RCM strategy we asked what criteria for tasks in RCM is the utility using.
Figure 5.8-1 illustrates responses:
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What criteria for tasks in RCM is your utility using?
80,0%
70,0%
60,0%
50,0%
40,0%
30,0%
20,0%
10,0%
0,0%
Hours of Number of Online Results of Other
operation above operations monitoring of regular
equipment data in Condition
nominal rating equipment Assessments
FIGURE 5.8-1 CRITERIA FOR TASKS IN RCM
Most utilities have responded indicating that they use both a system oriented and equipment oriented
approach to RCM with a weighting system. Figure 5.8-2 shows results:
Which approach is your utility using?
Equipment oriented (analysis of

each equipment type with individual
system-impact classification)
40,0% System oriented (system-impact of

55,0% substations)
Both (please specify which is

prevalent under additional
comments)
5,0%
FIGURE 5.8-2 SYSTEM VERSUS EQUIPMENT APPROACH FOR RCM
Most utilities update their RCM regularly based on feedback (57.9%) however when asked what they
felt was the optimal revision interval responses varied significantly from yearly to every 15 years.
When asked what resources where used to create their companies original Reliability Centred
Maintenance the vast majority stated in-house specialists (16/19 responses) along with historical data
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on failures (16/19 responses). Other sources used where external service providers (5/19),
manufacturers (3/19), other sources were indicated as consultant recommendations.
When asked the question as to what savings have been achieved by adopting a RCM focused
strategy, as with responses for CBM two respondents have indicated saving of 10-15%, with
comments that this has also resulted in savings in reduced outages. Most respondents indicated that
they did not have values of savings and one respondent indicated no savings when compared to
CBM.
5.9. Risk Based Maintenance

For utilities that use a RBM strategy we asked which criteria they use to predict the future state of an
asset fleet. Figure 5.9-1 illustrates responses.
What are the key criteria used to predict the future state of an asset fleet?
80,0%
70,0%
60,0%
50,0%
40,0%
30,0%
20,0%
10,0%
0,0%
Demographics Condition trend Performance Economic trend Other
age profile of the asset fleet trend of the of the asset fleet
asset fleet
FIGURE 5.9-1 CRITERIA USED TO PREDICT FUTURE STATE OF AN ASSET FLEET
Most utilities use demographics age profile to predict the future state of asset fleet.
The following comments were also received:

We are planning to use the TB 422 methodology that recommends the probability X
consequence analysis.
Physical condition and test results are also key factors.
When asked what the benefits of this strategy are the following comments were received:
Benefits include lower costs by not replacing assets on age and carrying out timey
interventions.
If the business driver is to run the assets to failure then a risk strategy will make a lot of
sense. Only replace assets that are at imminent failure.
Useful of middle term and long term strategy.
Reduction in the number of failures. Improved reliability performance in long-term, as
compared to RCM.
When dealing with older equipment, you are trying to catch failure just in time. Want to use all
useful life of asset.
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5.10. Implementation of Strategy

Most respondents have indicated that the work completed on their sustainment program is completed
in-house rather than contracted out. Figure 5.10-1 relates:
Is the work associated with the sustainment program in substations

done in house or is it contracted out?
31,4%
In-house
57,1% Contracted out
Both
11,4%
FIGURE 5.10-1 RESOURCES USED FOR SUSTAINMENT PROGRAM
When this work is contracted out most utilities use an external company dedicated to maintenance or
OEM. Figure 5.10-2 refers:
If the work referred to in the previous question is contracted out, do you

use -
90,0%
80,0%
70,0%
60,0%
50,0%
40,0%
30,0%
20,0%
10,0%
0,0%
Original equipment External company Other
manufacturer (OEM) dedicated to maintenance
FIGURE 5.10-2 CONTRACTED RESOURCES USED FOR SUSTAINMENT PROGRAM
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Most respondents have indicated that they minimise regular maintenance by synchronising
maintenance for associated equipment (91.4%) (e.g. maintaining breakers with the associated
disconnect switches, breakers and associated cap/shunt reactors banks, Power
Transformers/OLTCs, etc.).
When asked how outage management impacts on implementation of the maintenance strategy a
number of comments were received which indicated that this is an issue for many. Responses
indicate that it is central to planning maintenance that there is pressure to reduce/minimise outage
times and that coordination is required.
When asked whether they have eliminated/reduced any maintenance tasks for specific equipment the
majority have indicated that they have in most cases. Figure 5.10-3 illustrates responses:
Have you eliminated/reduced any maintenance tasks for the following?
35
30
25
20 Yes
15 No
10
5
0
FIGURE 5.10-3 Have maintenance tasks been eliminated or reduced?
When requested to provide additional detail, the following comments were received:
Oil or gas condition, counters, fault levels can provide extended maintenance cycles.
Resistive-glaze insulators provide for eliminated washing.
Vacuum-type tap changes provide for eliminated or reduced servicing.
We work on the maintenance of some circuit switchers without the outage.
Replacing pressurised air type disconnector operation mechanism with electrical motor ones,
we eliminated inspections of the mechanism.
Because the reliability of equipment improved, we made a maintenance period extension.
If anything we have tried to do more complete maintenance to increase interval. Do it all and
do correctly.
The only maintenance on support insulators is a corona test.
SF6 CT's by using double seal.
As explained in earlier questions, in 2007 a global decision has been made to reduce the
overall maintenance tasks by increasing the time-intervals.
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Maintenance reduction on equipments affected by approved replacement policy (air blast, oil
CB's on transmission system).
All oil and air blast breakers have been removed.
Dielectric loss testing eliminated on SF6 insulated equipment and surge arresters.
Only visual inspection on air-core reactors.
Following FMECA on oil and air blast CBs we have eliminate many of the maintenance
practices recommended by the OEM.
To reviews maintenance criteria every year according to failure records.
When asked on what basis do utilities prioritise their equipment replacement/overhaul program for
switching/reactive and AC/DC services, the two key factors were Safety & Reliability followed by
Maintenance Costs and Environment Risks.
The following comments on these factors were also received:
Company policies.
As long as asset can perform designed function, will be left in service. Maintenance costs are
only considered when excessive. Compare costs for like equipment. Then have to take
application into account. Loading, tap changer operations, availability for maintenance.
We will compare with reliability and cost to decide priorities.
Safety first above all other considerations.
Safety and reliability are areas of key importance for transmission assets. Whilst
environmental and maintenance are as important they can be managed with a higher degree
of flexibility.
Philosophy in line with the law recommendations: safety of persons, safety of equipment, and
reliability of supply.
There is an aggregated of all these 4 priorities.
All auxiliary station service and DC are maintained or replaced to keep reliable. These
systems are redundant at the transmission level.
Logical prioritisation.
When asked how utilities collect the data on their assets used to make maintenance decisions (i.e. IT
System, surveys, database etc.), the majority of respondents indicated they use IT systems and
databases with many supplementing this with information from staff.
5.11. Evaluation of Maintenance Strategy

When asked how do you assess the effectiveness of the management of your assets? Figure 5.11-1
illustrates responses:
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How do you assess the effectiveness of the management of your assets?
80,0%
70,0%
60,0%
50,0%
40,0%
30,0%
20,0%
10,0%
0,0%
Cost reductions The use of and Reduction in number Benchmarking with
improvements in key of outages other utilities
performance
indicators
FIGURE 5.11-1 How to assess the effectiveness of the management of your assets?
Many utilities assess the effectiveness of the management of their assets by Reduction in number of
outage (71%) and Cost reductions (62%).
Additional comments received:
Taking part in registered international benchmarking programmes such as ITOMS.

KPI on equipment related incident.
Benchmarking study that allows us to compare our self to other utilities.
We also use other performance indicators such as System Minutes interrupted, reduced
public safety incidents, reduced line outages, reduced ratio of corrective to preventive
maintenance etc.
When asked if a feedback loop is present for changes to maintenance practices, the following
comments were made:
We evaluate the effectiveness of our maintenance strategy and we verify the parameters
fixed for the system operator. We evaluate too the availability of our field employees to decide
if our strategy needs a change.
Dedicated staff.
Issue various documents: bulletins, tailboard training, and updated procedures or
maintenance manuals.
We do not have a standard feedback loop. We feedback as required.
Field forces provide feedback on program execution scopes.
Our Maintenance and Asset Management departments meet on a monthly basis to determine
if change is required to any maintenance strategies.
Recently we didn't have particular changes.
Yes we have it through numerous organisation structures.
Feedback regularly sought from maintenance service provider. Policy/Procedures regularly
reviewed.
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Yes, the feedback loop is clearly the main source of information in order to change our
maintenance practices.
Annual Asset Heath Review process is carried out, to evaluate the effectiveness and ongoing
effect of changes to maintenance practices.
Yes. If the number of faults are due to specific type of equipment.
Number of system outage/equipment failures.
Data management (SAP) Data historian.
Continuously improving.
Feedback loop is available between Head office and site.
Yes, we have 'Maintenance Champions' in regional area who fed back on issues and
performance of asset.
Monitor by failure rate and maintenance cost.
When asked to rank in order of importance the following KPIs, the result is as follows:
TABLE 5.11-1 MOST IMPORTANT KPIS
Ranking of factors Key Performance Indicators
1 Reliability
2 Public and staff safety
3 Availability
4 Environmental impact
5 Finance investment and maintenance costs
When asked how a company measures performance against maintenance targets, the following
comments were received:
The availability of the elements of the transmission system against the availability of the field
employees and the cost of maintenance.
Number of outages.
Tracking monthly by location, headquarters, equipment type, and maintenance task, using
unit cost targets.
Benchmarking.
Usually not done formally or on a piece of equipment basis. More generally just observe if
there are call backs due to incomplete or poor maintenance.
We measure it by each normal inspection, detailed inspection and evaluation sheets
consisted of age, failure, cost and risk of replacement.
Using realisation index.
Regular analysis of total no. of defects, availability, reliability and overdue planned
maintenance.
Use of a dashboard with KPI.
A number of KPI's are used to measure maintenance performance against targets including
any overdue work tasks, costs, and SF6 leakage.
Outages and budget fulfilment.
Reduction number of outages, different KPIs imposed by the regulator.
Number of system outage/equipment failures.
Completion of tasks is one factor. But maintenance targets vs. SAIDI and SAIFI index.
We generate monthly, quarterly and yearly reports, tracking against the maintenance targets
as well as maintenance budget.
Annual surveys.
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Financial Measures and performance against schedule.

System Performance Index (SPI).
5.12. Conclusions from the Questionnaire

5.12.1. Life Expectancies
Most have longer expectations for reactive equipment than ascribed at the time of major installations
in the 1960-70s. In the 2000 survey TB 152 (2) reported the operational life of a transformer was still
33-40 years and for switching equipment <35 years. The value in 2014 is similar for switching
equipment but for power transformers, a third of respondents are expecting a greater than 50 year
life. For switching equipment, its age is still the most important life-limiting factor. For reactive
equipment age per se is only the third most important factor. Life extension with its inherent life cycle
cost reduction is being achieved by basing life on actual condition and an Asset Health review.
5.12.2. Controlling Costs by Repair or Replace Decisions

Respondents were indicating replacement rather than major refurbishment. Clearly the integration of
CAPEX and OPEX control is now wider spread and as equipment ages calculations will analyse cost
effectiveness of strategies with ongoing maintenance as the only option. Life cycle costing should
become a more important an indicator than simply OPEX value.
5.12.3. Controlling Costs when Purchasing

The major approach to reduce costs is to replace the equipment in the complete bay rather than a
piecemeal renewal. Also significant is the use of pre-qualified suppliers and call-off contracts. This
suggests that at least for the respondents they are not restricted to the cheapest supply. This freedom
is clearly a benefit from privatisation.
5.12.4. Maintenance Strategies and Drivers

Most have implemented changes in their strategies. TBM still is most important, but with intervals
extended with three quarters of the respondents. It is not clear whether this is based upon a
judgement to save money, or as indicated using RCM approaches, or analytical modelling. Nearly all
are using off-line CBM to a greater or lesser degree. All expect greater changes with a risk based
approach becoming more common. At the time of TB 152 (2) there was little reference to RCM or risk
based methods and so this is a clear trend developing over the last decade. Where RCM has been
used it has been linked to condition indications, in effect a linked RCM-CBM strategy, rather than
timing based on traditional RCM based upon data from statistical failure analysis.
5.12.5. Outsourcing
Outsourcing continues to grow, but not greatly. Some 10% claim to outsource all work, 30% use a mix
of internal and external resource, the remainder use only in-house staff. TB 152 (2) noted that some
utilities chose outsourcing as they judged maintenance not to be a core activity.
5.12.6. Bundling Maintenance Work

Outages are difficult to obtain and most have had to synchronise with other work on the circuit.
Minimising outages will lead to savings in constraint costs which could be substantial. TB 152 (2) had
also reported this, and it was then the most important of the trends they had identified.
5.12.7. Elimination of Maintenance Tasks

Some have eliminated tasks, particularly for circuit breaker maintenance. Clearly this is a cost saving.
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5.12.8. Evaluation of Maintenance

Here most respondents monitored the effectiveness of their programme by tracking forced outages
and cost reductions. A good number of respondents use key performance indicators and
benchmarking. Safety and reliability were priorities, after which came availability, finance and lastly
the environment (Figure 5.12-1). TB 152 (2) reported to the contrary that the most important
performance measurements were those related to customer interruption rather than performance
statistics. They also reported greater focus on broader financial targets (life cycle costing) rather than
maintenance costs itself.
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6. SPECIFIC ASSET TYPES - EXPERIENCE & RECOMMENDATIONS

The content of the maintenance task has changed fundamentally, as described in earlier chapters.
Each asset has its own role within the network and it needs to be managed throughout its life to
optimise the return on the capital invested in it. But it also needs to meet the wider company values of
performance, costs, safety, and environment. The utility responsibility at each site is to assess the risk
exposure in each area and mitigate where appropriate by undertaking interventions.
In this context risk involves not just condition and its deterioration, but also the consequences of
poor condition. Here, interventions may include the type of work traditionally described as
maintenance tasks, but also include any substantial rebuilding/refurbishments and eventually
replacement. None of these are undertaken by routine but after indications that a risk factor has
increased and analysis has shown which type of intervention is the appropriate mitigation task. The
change implies a greater reliance on data from diagnostics, trip records, cost and level of
interventions etc.
Any intervention that requires an outage exposes the company to constraint costs if the network is
then configured with higher cost generation. Network operations are increasingly reluctant to release
circuits for maintenance justified only by being routinely required. Maintenance outage planning is
usually linked to a now uncertain generator outage. Additionally, the intervention has a cost itself.
Thus greater emphasis is needed on activities that can be undertaken non-invasively with the
equipment on-line. Once an issue is identified it becomes easier to justify an outage.
Utilities should not aim to reduce maintenance costs at the expense of reliability. Accumulation of
maintenance records and analyses of failure causes and trends, or development of alternative
diagnosis technology are indispensable in order to improve maintenance work without losing decent
reliability. To construct databases that enable utilities to confirm specific equipment's failure potential,
detail inspection record, failure record of each asset is necessary. Educating engineers who are able
to evaluate and analyse failure trend is significant factor.
The following sections of this chapter have been compiled based primarily on working group
members experiences with references to the questionnaire and other sources as appropriate.
6.1. Switchgear
6.1.1. Circuit Breakers
DESIGN PERSPECTIVES AND OPTIMISED LIFE MANAGEMENT
HV CB designs include two basic variants with operating mechanisms in either live or dead tanks.
Over the years, the mechanisms have evolved through oil, air blast, several designs of SF6, and more
recently vacuum. Transmission utilities generally have examples of most types in their network,
although the live or dead tank options are usually specific to a country, dead tank is mostly in North
America for example. All are made by a variety of OEMs throughout the world. TB 165 (16) describes
general guidelines for life management of these various designs and TB 510 (17) updates this
document as far as SF6 CBs are concerned.
The influence of technical development on the maintenance of SF6 circuit breakers is focused towards
optimised maintenance. The first SF6 high voltage circuit breakers were put into service in the 1960s.
The type of circuit breaker was a 245 kV live tank double pressure type. This type of SF6 circuit
breaker uses low SF6 pressure for the dielectric insulation and higher SF6 pressure for extinguishing
the arc. Dead tank designs of the double pressure SF6 breakers were introduced in North America in
the early 1970s. Due to technical and economic reasons (maintenance intervals of 5 years with high
maintenance costs, and chronic major SF6 gas leakage); nearly all of these outdoor circuit breakers
have been replaced with more modern circuit breaker types.
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In the 1970s, the SF6 single pressure puffer type circuit breaker was introduced. The worldwide
operational experience demonstrates a low failure rate as well as a high operational safety and
reliability. Many circuit breakers have exceeded the predicted lifespan of 25-30 years without
increasing the frequency of failures and are still working reliably. The technical lifetime has, therefore,
not been achieved yet, but the end of economic lifetime must be considered. According to currently
available operating experience, a technical lifetime of more than 50 years is possible. Nowadays, the
asset management approaches to lifetime care for SF6 high voltage circuit breakers is becoming more
essential, hence important maintenance efforts are increasingly determined by the actual condition of
the circuit breakers and time-based maintenance is consequently becoming less important. This is
reflected in replies to the questionnaire.
Therefore, the combination of elements of preventive and condition-based maintenance is

recommended by the circuit breaker manufacturers and will be primarily used by those operators
where mainly the criteria of time and number of operations or short circuit breaking current
interruptions are linked.
The maintenance intervals could be significantly extended in some areas due to the good operating
experience with the same circuit breaker type.
EXAMPLES OF COST OPTIMISATION AT MANUFACTURE:
Flanges: If corrosion on surface of flanges occurs it may gradually develop into the O-ring
grooves resulting in SF6 gas leakage. This applies to both live and dead tank CBs, generally
those with outdoor applications. To prevent the occurrence of gas leakage, it is necessary to
repair flanges and to replace O-rings by disassembling the tank or porcelain stacks of a live
tank CB. However, this takes a lot of time and cost. Therefore, it is important to use sealing
materials around flanges during installation. In addition, a check for corrosion on surface of
flanges is needed during routine patrols, which, if identified, will lead to repair of the damage
before corrosion occurs. Proper maintenance for flanges will extend the life of the circuit
breaker.
Interrupters: Interrupters in SF6 circuit breakers wear both by switching and when
interrupting short-circuit currents. Therefore, internal inspections are needed at a certain point
of time. For interrupters wear of arc contacts, main contacts, nozzles and so on, can be
inferred by testing (contact resistance, trip-free dwell time) and are physically checked with
internal inspections. Either grease is applied on the contacts or the interrupter is replaced as
required.
The timing of internal inspection is determined by the number of operations:
o The amount of wear of contacts and nozzles is estimated by contact resistance and
operations number of circuit breakers and the purpose of the switching task.
o Measurements such as contact resistance measurement and trip-free dwell time can
prevent failure due to interrupter wear.
Any O-rings disassembled for internal inspection should not be reused as tightness against
SF6 leakage will be impaired. Generally the inspections are performed before reaching a pre-
determined number of operations, the usage can be tracked and intervention more accurately
determined. This can lead to cost savings on maintenance.
Operating mechanism: The most recent survey from Study Committee A3 is in TB 510 (17)
where they report approximately half of all major failures (MaF) relate to the operating
mechanism. In general the MaF frequencies for all operating mechanism types have
improved as a function of year manufactured. Old hydraulic mechanisms and old pneumatic
mechanisms have higher MaF frequencies than newer ones. Spring mechanisms maintained
the MaF frequency level at practically the same level over various manufactured periods.
Page 57
OPTIMISATION DURING SERVICE

According to results of our questionnaire in chapter 5.2, many utilities expect the life expectancy of a
modern SF6 circuit breaker to be in excess of 40 years. Failure rates of circuit breakers (CB) depends
on type and manufacture's model, deterioration due to age (grease, O-ring, etc.) and specific
condition, environmental issues (for example, salt contamination) of the substations and the purpose
of the switching task (reactor switching, capacitor bank switching, overhead line switching, etc.).
TB 510 (17) reports around 25% of MaF may be attributed to deficiencies of design, manufacture,
transport and installation. However, more than 50% of MaF, and over 70% of minor failures (MiF) are
attributed to wear, ageing and corrosion. This is a very challenging situation when ascribing a life
extension.
Statistical analysis of failure data is most important information for improving equipment and system
reliability decisions for life cycle management. Thus it is recommended to develop and maintain a
detailed and comprehensive data management system. This data is used for categorising weak points
in each type and manufacturer's model of CB. This allows maintenance to be focused on weak points,
so enabling improvement in reliability of the CB equipment and the system, as well as extending life
expectancy.
As CB can be repaired on-site, it is normal to have refurbishment at points during lifetime, to replace
and repair deteriorated and worn parts and so extend life and recovery of equipment performance. To
achieve a life cycle of more than 40 years before replacement, such invasive maintenance and
replacement of parts are required. This occurs at times such as 25 or 30 years, depending on such
factors as frequency of operations and load being switched.
The consequence of SF6 gas leakage and contact wear will be an outage due to lack of insulating and
conducting performance. A malfunction of the operating mechanism will lead to the circuit breakers
inability to open and close on command.
STRATEGIC REPLACEMENT PLANNING FOR CBS

There are few components that determine the life of switchgear. Once failure occurred, it is possible
to repair and/or to replace the components and parts such as parts of the operating mechanism,
bushings, auxiliary relays, main contacts, O-rings, grease, and so on in order to maintain proper
performance of the equipment in service. However, the cost of some components may be too
expensive to repair and/or replace, e.g. operating mechanism, bushings, etc. considering the rest of
expected life of the failed equipment. Furthermore, some types of equipment are affected by risks that
make ongoing use impossible, for instance, difficulty to procure spare components, high possibility of
failure, costly maintainability, and for earlier designs the workforce (and OEM) having the required
knowledge.
Therefore, a variety of items shown in Table 6.1-1 have to be evaluated in order to establish an
optimised replacement plan.
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TABLE 6.1-1 EVALUATION ITEMS FOR PRIORITISATION
Construction
Inspection
Cost
Repair
Replacement
Lack of spare parts availability
Risk Failure rate
Maintainability
A second and increasingly common reasoning leading to a replacement decision in place of ongoing
repair/refurbishment also exists. It relates to capital investment planning. Many utilities worldwide
created their HV networks over a very short time period. In theory each should have a similar financial
wall for re-investment. Figure 6.1-1 shows the investment plan for circuit breakers in a Japanese TSO
(18) with the two options:
With only a simple replication of original installation and based on time in service.
Current plan using a pro-active replacement strategy that is based on a financial optimisation
in order to invest for replacement over a longer period.
FIGURE 6.1-1 PLANNED CIRCUIT BREAKER INVESTIMENT CYCLE
Issues to be taken into account are the high levels of maintenance required for specific model of CB,
lack of experienced manpower, spare part availability and potential risk to the system for specific
devices.
Additional information and discussion on circuit breaker wear can be found in section 12.3.
6.1.2. Disconnectors
For disconnectors our questionnaire has indicated that a number of respondents have increased the
maintenance intervals over those originally assigned to these devices as a means of cost saving.
Page 59
There is also some experience to indicate that replacement of maintenance intensive pneumatic drive
systems with electrical ones can produce some savings.
Regular maintenance work for disconnectors can be reduced by doing more in the routine patrol
inspection, without outages, by adding some useful diagnosis, and so on. These strategies could
contribute to save cost and optimise maintenance work. Such examples are provided in the section
6.1.4.
6.1.3. Gas Insulated Substations

There is increasing use of SF6 substations where all switching and busbar runs are enclosed. There
are significant advantages in saving space and freedom from airborne pollution issues. GIS should
run defect-free as they are passive elements. However, problems that relate to contamination of the
switching or bus equipment may be introduced during commissioning. Another related issue may be
due to vibration that can dislodge conductor components such as
stress shields. However, whilst GIS at coastal sites may have
avoided problems from insulator pollution, such installations are
frequently affected by corrosion and usually have a reduced life
expectancy unless inside a protective building.
It is normal to monitor gas for purity, decomposition products,

moisture and density. The latter is an indicator of leaks, and in
many countries there are legal commitments to reduce gas
leakage. This means that gas usage in each gas zone is
monitored. If a leak is indicated there are a number of tools to
locate. They use a variety of methods from detecting ultrasonic
noise from escaping gas to spectroscopy. For ease of use in an FIGURE 6.1-2 LOCATING A GAS LEAK
HV area a new development is a customised infrared camera, as USING THERMAL IMAGING CAMERA
shown in Figure 6.1-2. (19)
6.1.4. Switchgear Diagnostics

GENERAL INSPECTIONS
Some defects, such as cracks of insulators and defects of operating mechanism are easily found by
patrol work without the need for an outage. Obtaining outages for maintenance on the disconnectors
in particular, is one of the most difficult tasks, as it often implies an extended outage on the line being
served by the device and all customers on the line. Checking switchgear at regular intervals with an
outage could be replaced by patrol work, thus enabling utilities to save maintenance costs and
avoiding the difficult outage. This would be undertaken using a UV daylight camera. The aim would be
to look for corona type partial discharge at badly connected contacts.
CHECKING OF OVERHEATED AREAS BY INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY

More often than not, defects in current-carrying parts cause an increase in contact resistance that in
turn leads to overheating. These symptoms can be detected easily by using Infrared Thermography.
This diagnosis method using Infrared Thermography camera device does not require an outage, and
reduce utility's burden to manage inspection work with an outage. An example of this method is
shown in Figure 6.1-3 below:
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Temperature can be
observed on the display
FIGURE 6.1-3 INFRA-RED THERMOGRAPHY CAMERA DEVICE (19)
CHECKING OF OVERHEATED AREAS USING THERMAL LABELS

Checking overheated areas can also be done by using thermal labels. Although it is difficult to
observe exact temperature, thermal labels are a useful and convenient way to find out obvious
overheating during patrol inspections.
Here in Figure 6.1-4 is an example of a thermal label used by a US utility:
FIGURE 6.1-4 THERMAL LABEL FUNCTIONING
The colour of each area of the label changes according to temperature reached. In (a) where the
temperature has been lower than the label set temperatures all areas have a light hue. In (b) the
yellow has turned orange at 500C. In (c) the centre has turned grey and the others are darker.
Thermal imaging is essential for preventing faults on disconnectors as they usually represent a vast
majority of hot spots in a substation (up to 90% of the overall hot spots).
PERIODIC OPERATING TESTS

Most disconnector defects happen when equipment has not been operated for a long time. Therefore,
periodic operating testing should be implemented in these situations. Although this operation requires
some system switching, this can be implemented more easily and at lower cost than work that
requires outages. However, it is recognised that system operators are reluctant to grant outages on
lines, particularly high voltage ones that are critical to the system. Flexibility on the part of the
maintenance crew and availability of spare parts are essential to allow for such inspection and
operation of disconnectors whenever an outage is available.
Aside from strategies mentioned above, replacing aged operating pneumatic mechanisms for reliable
motor drives will reduce maintenance work.
As far as disconnectors in indoor substations are concerned, the interval of inspection work can be
extended, because they are generally protected from pollution, rain and corrosion.
Some consideration may be given to monitoring torque measurements for disconnector operation
(e.g. using numerical command mechanism and associated software for torque analysis and proper
condition based maintenance).
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ELECTRICAL TESTING OF GIS

TB 514 (20) recently issued reviewed experience and their questionnaire showed an insight as to
diagnostic strategies. All companies must undertake a HV commissioning test to comply with
IEC 62271- 203 (21), and usually this involves an HV test with PD measurements. Once in service
most companies continue to undertake in-service measurements.
FIGURE 6.1-5 - TEST STRATEGY FROM TB 514
A reasonable number, between 10 and 20%, had opted for a continuous UHF monitoring diagnostic
system, see Figure 6.1-5. However, nearly all utilities were undertaking periodic diagnostic testing.
Here this means using an acoustic emission (AE) sensor that is capable of detecting PD and particle
movement along chamber walls. A newer method for use where UHF probes have been pre-installed
is the use a portable UHF scanner. These are both shown in Figure 6.1-6. Other diagnostics relate to
gas leakage, use rate, dew point, gas purity and decomposition products.
FIGURE 6.1-6 PD SURVEY MEASUREMENTS ON GIS- WITH AE SENSOR AND WITH UHF SCANNER ON PRE-
INSTALLED PROBE
Page 62
6.2. Reactive Equipment

6.2.1. Power Transformers
LIFETIME
The traditional focus for identifying transformer life expectancy has been based upon the inescapable
thermal ageing of the paper insulation used as a multi-turn wrap around the conductors. Paper is a
long chain polysaccharide material that ages by chain scission with a related loss in mechanical
strength. The designer assumes a worst case loading pattern and a requirement to achieve a 40 year
life for network units, and 25 year one for generator step-up or interconnector transformers. As can be
seen in the questionnaire results in chapter 5, utilities now expect transformers to be operated more
than 50 years. Experience from over 100 teardowns in UK (22) is that for these climates the loading
temperatures are less severe for N-1 network units. The end of thermal life of the winding paper is
likely to be in excess of 80 or more years in service in such units provided it has a sound thermal
design.
What is found in the real world is that failures generally occur in other design areas unrelated to the
traditional view of a design life based on ageing of winding paper. There is a high proportion of
failures in the first 5 years and those that fail in the region of 20-40 years do so from a wider range of
factors, and an ineffective design, along with manufacturing issues is very significant [ (22) (23) (24)
(25) (7)]. That said it should be recognised that in some countries it is common for distribution class
units to be run significantly higher than nameplate ratings, and the link between rating and ambient
temperatures ignored. Then paper ageing will become more important. Additionally, transformers
failing as a consequence of faults in on-load tap changers and bushings are significant causes of
transformer failures. Increasing asset life much above 40 years may lead to more failures in these
accessories or avoided by their increased replacement in mid-transformer life. Operating transformers
for such long times will also lead to an increase in problems such as oil leakage following
deterioration of gaskets, driers, temperature gauges and malfunction in cooling pumps and fans.
These are general maintenance items for transformers, increasing the cost each year, and indicating
which aspects of the transformer design require diagnostics and maintenance.
The consequence of the foregoing is consistent with the discussion in Chapter 4, see Figure 4.2-3.
There is no simple set of statistics yielding an end of life bathtub transformer failure rate for a whole
population since causes of failure and gestation rate are so diverse. The situation is more complex.
Maintenance, refurbishment and end of life decisions will all be made on the basis of an individual
assessment using design group knowledge, accessories and condition assessment. This places far
greater reliance upon having an effective asset health review based on a unit-by-unit analysis to
identify risk exposure and from that determine contingency action planning.
As described in reference 6, the first step in creating an asset health review is to use knowledge of
performance of the designs together with DGA, oil quality, diagnostics such as UHF and IR scanning
to produce a first stage asset health review. This provides the FMECA link between failure modes and
corresponding diagnostic indicators. The analysis will then allow identification and prioritisation of
units for a detailed condition assessment to be undertaken in an outage. With that knowledge,
transformers will be categorised as per Table 6.2-1, taken from reference (26).
Page 63
TABLE 6.2-1 ASSET HEALTH SCORE (26)
As part of the Asset Health Review used in UK, two Health Indices are calculated for each
transformer:
Current Health Index, based on actual condition

Mitigated Health Index, based on estimated condition after all reasonably possible
actions to improve condition have been taken: repairs, replacing or processing the oil
etc.
The Mitigated Health Index excludes or minimises the effect of external corrosion, oil ageing, tap
changer wear, etc., as it is assumed that these can be corrected by appropriate maintenance. The
Mitigated Health Index takes full account of the condition of the core and windings etc., as it is
assumed that this cannot be corrected by appropriate maintenance. Special cases are treated on their
merits, e.g. tightening loose clamping bolts in certain transformers. Replacement planning is based
largely on the Mitigated Health Index. Other factors are also important, especially obsolescence and
redundancy. Refurbishment planning is based partly on the difference between the Current and
Mitigated Health Indices. Many other factors are also important.
Several utilities are applying Asset Health Index techniques, however there is a concern with regard
to consistency of approach. CIGR Study Committee A2 working group A2-49 has recently convened,
with an aim to achieve such consistent criteria by which Asset Health Index can be undertaken for
power transformers.
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE CYCLE

TB 445 (27) produced by WG A2.34 illustrates the process widely used.
The most widely used diagnostic is an oil analysis with a sample taken at intervals again varying
between 2 weeks to annually. But it is rarely as often as 2 weeks; 6 or 12 months is the norm unless a
problem is identified. In both cases the timing would reflect transformer use and any concerns. An oil
sample can be taken from the main tank and, for some designs, the tap changer without any
disruption to supply. Laboratory analysis will look for dissolved gases indicative of thermal and
electrical malfunction, together with other tests for paper ageing indicators (Furans) and deterioration
of oil quality, see IEC 60599 (28). The last is clearly a trigger for maintenance, to dry, filter and even
replace the oil. Inhibitor and passivator content measurements will indicate any need to replenish.
Other inspection methods include infrared and UHF interference. These methods are described in
chapter 4.4.
It was the technology developments in chromatography during the period 1955-65 that enhanced the
use of gas analysis as a transformer diagnostics. It was realised that vacuum extraction could remove
gases from an oil sample and then be analysed. It had been known for several decades that hydrogen
and acetylene were important indicators of malfunction. With greater analysis capability and use, the
importance of methane, ethane, and ethylene, together with carbon oxides was also recognised. At
this time various diagnostic codes such as Rogers Ratios, Duval triangle and IEEE key gas method
(C57-104 1991 (29)) were derived to identify the cause of failures. These were based on the types of
gases produced in faults and their relative proportions. In 1973 Halstead published research showing
the composition of hydrocarbon gases produced when heated at various oil temperatures (30).
Page 64
Working with the same UK failure data used by Rogers he was able to provide the explanation as to
why ratios of certain gases indicated different types of failure mechanism. Since that time, laboratories
have undertaken analysis and by industry cooperation through CIGR and IEEE tabulations for
normal levels of each gas have been agreed. Oil laboratories undertaking routine oil analyses will
report any sample exceeding these levels. It is also normal practice for them to report calculations for
ratios and triangle values. But these calculations do not work consistently for sound transformers or
those with a fault at an early stage. In many cases it can be several years between the first indication
of a problem (i.e. a change in risk) and the time when gas levels exceeded the agreed limits in IEC
and IEEE is shown.
Thus the need and use of DGA has evolved. The modern asset manager needs tools to identify an
early change in the risk: to identify pattern changes and not just rely upon committee-derived
numerical values that explain why a failed transformer actually failed. Now it is more important to
manage risk of a possible early end of life by identifying the onset of malfunction as early as possible
in the life cycle. This may then be used to initiate remedial action or prioritisation for replacement.
Figure 6.2-1 shows how the IEEE key gas method can be used very effectively to monitor a change in
risk. In this method each of the six combustible gases are expressed as a percentage of their total.
This is particularly useful to identify from the gas pattern whether the problem is overheating with or
without paper insulation, or partial discharge. But like some other methods it does not factor the
quantity of gases, and so fifteen years ago Lapworth developed a simple algorithm based on both gas
quantity and the key gas fingerprint method. This has been used as a means of giving an early
indication of malfunction (26) and identifies the development of a fault through the change in content
of the six key gases of the IEEE method with the early predominance of carbon monoxide decreasing
as the percentage hydrogen, methane and ethylene increase. In this figure both key gas and the
algorithm show a change in year 2000, well over 6 years ahead of the eventual failure, an eventual
tracking fault that developed into a power arc. It has been used by a UK TSO since then to analyse all
DGA data as it comes from the oil laboratory and the output feeds directly to an asset health review
for the transformer fleet (7). This is one of many examples where reliance upon action limits in such
as IEC 60569 would not indicate an issue/risk to be managed until too close to failure.
100
400
90
350
80
70 300
Percentage combustible gas
60 250
50
DGA Score
200
40
150
30
100
20
10 50
0
0
07/05/90 31/01/93 28/10/95 24/07/98 19/04/01 14/01/04 10/10/06 06/07/09
CO H2 CH4 C2H4 C2H6 C2H2
FIGURE 6.2-1 DGA PROFILES ON A DEVELOPING FAULT IN A SHUNT REACTOR
Whilst decreasing the intervals for oil sampling is an option to manage such a risk, the technology
exists today to analyse on-line and transmit data to a remote site. Analysers may be for a single gas
(hydrogen) or up to eight gases. Figure 6.2-2 shows two in use in Japan.
In general, high precision DGA using a fixed high performance device needs significant cost and time.
An alternative to transporting oil to a laboratory is to analyse dissolved gas in-situ. A portable DGA
system is shown in Figure 6.2-2(a). When this can be done on the spot in a brief period without
transportation of oil the process is quite efficient. On-line DGA systems will contribute to savings in
maintenance costs, because there is no need to go to a laboratory for the analysis. But it must be
recalled that these devices have their own capital and maintenance costs.
Page 65
FIGURE 6.2-2 EXAMPLES OF DGA SYSTEMS
FIGURE 6.2-3 UHF CT CLIP ON EARTH STRAP
Other on-line monitoring systems include partial discharge using UHF probes inserted into the tank,
tap changer timing, the ability to model time and temperature, and bushing power factor/capacitance.
In the example shown in Figure 6.2-3 an online DGA monitor had showed intermittent hydrogen
production from the transformer. Using a simple clip-on HFCT around an earth strap could track the
timing of the activity more precisely. Here shown in Figure 6.2-4, significant UHF current is detected
over 100-500MHz during a period when hydrogen was being recorded. It also confirmed that the
hydrogen being detected is due to PD activity and not due to stray gassing.
FIGURE 6.2-4 COMPARISON OF MULTI-GAS DGA AND 100-1000MHZ SPECTRUM OF UHF CURRENT
Page 66
SECOND STAGE DIAGNOSTICS

Once a transformer has been identified to be at risk it is important to define the risk closely. This
usually means a more in depth condition assessment, and perhaps an internal inspection. Tests
typically involve:
10 kV AC power factor/capacitance of windings and bushings to detect moisture content and

contamination
Turns ratio to detect shorted turns in the winding and OLTC.
Sweep Frequency Response Analysis (SFRA) of windings to detect mechanical condition and
the risk in the event of a further close-up fault. It detects movement of the core or windings,
distortion, short circuits in the winding.
Leakage reactance provides a complementary assessment of the mechanical condition of
core and windings. Although less sensitive than SFRA, it is used in standards and in factory
acceptance testing.
Excitation current is a simple test that indicates winding faults.
DC Winding resistance at each tapping position to test the connections.
Core to tank connection resistance, possible if the connection is external. This is a major
failure mode resulting in the creation of circulating currents when an un-intentional core
connection is created following the deterioration of insulation from the core or frame to the
tank.
Dielectric spectroscopy may be useful to give additional knowledge as to moisture in
windings. Interpretation has been subject to several CIGR working groups.
6.2.2. Strategies for Cost Saving in Maintenance for

Transformers
CAPITAL INVESTMENT AND TRANSFORMER LIFETIME
Several of the large transmission companies have invested in forensic investigation on units when
they are scrapped. This has brought insight into how particular designs age. On this basis, significant
capital investment deferral is possible for transmission network transformers in an N-1 network. Some
may be expected to have a service life double the value ascribed when new. It depends upon who
made the unit and when, together with the operational environment. Achieving this saving requires
ongoing audit of condition, particularly of the oil, OLTC, bushings and protection. It is reasonable to
consider midlife refurbishments/replacements of these accessories. Many utilities had initial
investment profiles for transformers similar to that shown in Figure 6.1-1, and with the justification
from the asset health reviews the re-investment can be similarly modified.
STRATEGIC MAINTENANCE OUTAGE PLANNING BASED ON NETWORK

IMPACT JAPANESE EXPERIENCE
Age and condition of equipment is traditionally a main driver for its replacement plan. However, as
pointed out in Chapter 5 one key factor now is network risk. Japanese utilities and OEMs have
undertaken extensive research from pooled DGA results and used this to direct replacement planning.
The method is described in reference (18). Figure 6.2-5 indicates the priority in terms of impact on the
power grid, classified into four categories from <1> to <4>. The DGA analyses have been allocated to
5 categories, zone 1 being the lowest caution, to zone 5 which is a warning level. All in zone 5 require
replacement. This can be delayed for lower DGA groups, depending on the network impact.
Page 67
<1>
Evaluation from impact
<2>
on power grid
<3>
<4>
Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 3 Zone 4 Zone 5
FIGURE 6.2-5 OPTIMISATION OF REPLACEMENT PLANS
The following Figure 6.2-6 is an example of managing risk, also described in CIGR Session paper
B3-213-2014 (18). As shown in the figure, a transformer in "A" substation failed. Consequently some
loads were transferred to "B" substation, thereby increasing the load of "B" substation. As a result, the
condition of a transformer in "B" substation deteriorated with increased acetylene levels. It was not
possible to address the issue due to networks constraints following the first failure in A. Therefore, it
was finally decided to continue to operate the transformer in "B" substation with this higher failure risk
but managed by using a continuous on-line gas monitor shown earlier.
The lessons from this case are that risk management is also required to reduce
maintenance/replacement cost, considering several factors including not only individual condition of
equipment, but also its importance in a network and impact of its failure, especially when some
equipment with risk factors inherently exist in a same network.

(3)STEP3
Condition
got worse due to abnormal
result of gas-in-oil analysis

"B" S/S

(1) Stopped operation

"C" S/S
"A" S/S

(2)Switched some loads

"A" S/S "B" S/S

2-1-3 STEP3
FIGURE 6.2-6 AN EXAMPLE OF OPERATION EXPERIENCE IN CASE OF TWO TRANSFORMERS WITH FAULTS IN THE
SAME POWER GRID (18)
STRATEGY FOR ON-LOAD TAP CHANGES (OLTC)

Most OEMs specify a time based maintenance programme. TB 445 (27) points out that the time can
be considerably extended using oil analyses for oil deterioration, contamination, moisture and
dissolved gases. Non-invasive diagnostics include Infrared scanning, UHF scanning and locating in a
separate tank OLTC with acoustic emission (AE) probes. OEMs provide a pre-installed system for
diagnosing faults with timing and travel time.
Page 68
It is widely known that unbalanced-wear in contact parts happens in some specific types of oil diverter
switching, especially when they are operated under lower load than designed circumstances. These
OLTC types need to exchange contact parts frequently, and this lead to expensive maintenance cost
as a result. Adoption of contact parts designed for each transformer's practical load in advance will
contribute to save maintenance cost for OLTC.
Recently, OLTC designs using a vacuum switch have been adopted by many utilities. This vacuum
type OLTC does not generate arcs in oil and contact parts are seldom worn by switching operation.
Compared to oil type OLTC, vacuum bulb type OLTC does not need frequent inspection and oil filter,
thereby meeting cost-saving expectation of utilities.
STANDARDISATION
The utility may standardise on certain sized ratings for each of the voltage classes. This facilitates
system considerations and inter-changeability across the province. The transformers also have a
detailed specification for construction, testing and accessories that is common regardless of the size
and/or ratings. This allows common processes for regular maintenance and testing. Some specific
features such as air cell conservators and maintenance free breathers sustain the quality of the
insulating oil, minimising oil treatment. The sealed system also limits moisture and oxygen in the oil
which reduces aging of the insulation. The use of vacuum switching tap-changers or OLTC oil filters
minimises tap-changer maintenance. Due to seismic requirements, all bushings are to be oil-free
composite type (porcelain-free housings).
QUICK AND REASONABLE OIL LEAKAGE REPAIR METHODS

Oil leakage problems occur on aged equipment because of deterioration of gaskets. When an oil
leakage occurs, a suitable and quick repair should be done as part of equipment maintenance and an
environmental problem. In particular, soil contamination problems have a large social impact in Japan
as in many other countries. A quick, easy and inexpensive repair is required at the oil leakage fault.
There are several options for the repair such as replacement of gasket and use of oil leakage
sealants. As a temporary treatment, the method of application of "mortar" to the area, is reasonable
and useful to repair the oil leak easily and quickly.
FIGURE 6.2-7 EXAMPLES OF OIL LEAKAGE REPAIR RESULTS
6.2.3. Power Transformer Control Cubicles/Kiosks

It is possible for rain to ingress into outdoor power transformer cubicles resulting in potential short-
circuits and rusting at the electronic devices or terminal boards. Therefore, it is necessary for a patrol
to check whether there is damage of gaskets and rusting of cubicles.
Condensation in cubicles can occur due to poor countermeasures against moisture ingress.
Countermeasures include desiccants or heaters set inside of cubicles. It is necessary to check
whether these devices are functioning normally.
Page 69
Cable entry points in cubicles are a potential invasion route for insects. In order to prevent short-circuit
inside of cubicles due to insects; this opening should be appropriately sealed. It is necessary to check
for any damage or deterioration during a patrol.
The patrol should check therefore the following items:
Damage in gasket.
Rusting of cubicles.
Heater operation.
Damage or deterioration of the seals.
6.2.4. Power Transformer Cooling Systems

The cooling system of power transformers needs preventive maintenance to avoid any critical loss of
efficiency that could lead to a power transformer failure due to overheating. The frequency of those
preventive maintenance tasks is most of the time determined based the actual condition of the loading
of the fans. Infrared scanning can detect a malfunctioning fan and irregular heating in pumps and
fans, see Chapter 4.4. Most of the time these interventions need to be conducted during, or right after,
the high pollen period (usually around spring season) as those particles emitted by surrounding trees
can agglomerate and finally obstruct the fans hence an increased risk for power transformers failures.
The most common and efficient way to remove the protective debris guards and to protect the
sensitive parts of fan motors is to use high-pressure water to clean the fans of the cooling system.
The major drawback of such a technique is that it requires the power transformers to be taken off the
grid during the whole maintenance operation. In an example from a European utility this outage can
last up to 3 days every year for a 600 MVA power transformer that can be very challenging if there are
no N-1 power transformers installed in the impacted substations or if the network configuration is too
critical.
An optimised way of dealing with this maintenance action is to use alternate methodologies that do
not require or limit the planned outage with the same level of efficiency. The use of high-pressure air
to clean those fans is a way of saving time for this specific maintenance task. For a 600 MVA this
specific methodology usually requires 5 or 6 hours to clean the whole device while keeping the power
transformer live on the network. This technique however does have limitations regarding the kind of
pollutant that needs to be cleaned on the fans. It is very effective for the dust or any kind of sticky
pollution such as pollen but its efficiency is relative when used to mitigate greasy materials obstructing
heat exchangers. The level and kind of pollution has to be properly assessed during substation
patrols.
FIGURE 6.2-8 AIR CLEANING OF RADIATORS
To optimise safety and operators comfort during those maintenance actions, a dedicated platform
can be used rather than ladders.
Page 70
6.2.5. Auxiliary Transformers/Peterson (Arc Suppression)

Coils/Earthing Transformers
Advances in technology mean that transformers with solid dielectric rather than more traditional oil
filled there are currently available. This results in a life cycle cost saving with a potential reduction in
maintenance requirements. Also there is a potential saving with regard to the need for bundling to
contain oil leaking. This is an area where scanning with IR and UHF can be effective in detecting
problems.
Consideration can be given to run to failure maintenance strategies depending on back-up availability
for LV supplies to the substation.
For other potentially oil filled devices such as Peterson (or Arc Suppression) Coils and Earthing
Transformers, minimal maintenance is generally required. However protection devices should be
checked at appropriate intervals for their correct operation.
6.2.6. Reactors
Larger oil filled reactors are treated the same as power transformers, Refer to section 6.2.1.
For smaller air-core type reactors minimal intervention is required. The following should be
considered:
Visual inspection
Infra-red scanning
PD scanning using a UV camera or as per Figure 4.4-5 using a UHF scanner
Power factor capacitance
Utilities should consider standardisation of ratings and limit the ratings to only 1 or 2 for each voltage
class where feasible. To minimise the cost, standardisation of the design, construction, accessories
and testing of reactors is encouraged. Dry type reactors can mostly be used for MV rated series or
shunt reactors, which minimises maintenance for these classes.
6.2.7. Bushings
High voltage bushings usually have a condenser design, with up to 200 individual sections.
Traditionally at 200 kV and above they have had oil-impregnated layers separated by aluminium foils.
A high proportion of bushing failures are catastrophic, with shards of broken porcelain sent up to
100 m or more. Data indicates the proportion of explosive failures was around 30% (31). This has
driven many to move to the purchase of composite bushings in a polymeric housing.
FIGURE 6.2-9 FAILURE OF BUSHING IN CANADA
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On-line diagnostics
On-line survey techniques have value, with IR detecting for example overheating in joints and low oil
volumes. UHF scanning has been used successfully to detect faulty connections in bushing taps and
PD faults within a bushing. On-line dielectric loss monitoring is becoming more popular. It has the
advantage of testing being done on bushings at operational voltages and temperatures. As reported
at the 2012 Paris meeting of B3-preferential question 2.1, one vendor has extensive experience over
a ten year period with 10,000 bushings under surveillance. The expert system is critical, however, with
some simple expert systems based on sum current method giving too many false alerts, a more
complex comparator method may be required. Experience has shown that utilities installing these
systems must have clear action plans in the event of an alert from these systems. In some cases a
failing bushing has been correctly identified but failure not avoided because of a lack of an action
plan.
Off-line Diagnostics
TB 445 (27) reports that the most widely used diagnostic is to measure power factor (PF) and
capacitance (C) to identify changes relative to nameplate values. This test does require an outage for
the measurement and a good database. The US has the largest DTA database internationally for
PF/C measurements. In a typical year some 100,000 new results are added to this database and
used for benchmarking by manufacturer and design group (32). In 2013 some 1% of tests by US
utilities and their contractors led to exchange of the bushings due to elevated values. This action is
normally taken as a doubling in nameplate PF or a 10% increase in C. That so many deteriorated
bushings were removed is significant but even this will not prevent all failures. The vast majority of
deteriorating bushings do show a gradual increase as damage progresses. Provided the interval
between tests is not extended too far it can easily be detected by measurements taken every few
years and replaced. But a ten-year experience using an on-line system has demonstrated that some
bushing designs have failure modes that will turn from being sound to a fault in a few months or even
hours. These would be missed by any form of periodic testing.
An alternative diagnostic appropriate for oil paper designs is to use dissolved gas sampling. This can
be very effective but involves an outage, all connections removed and the helmet opened. Bushing oil
is a sealed small volume and drawing a sample is not without risks. These have been considered in
TB 445 (27) by Study Committee A2, the transformer specialist committee. They note the risks from
improper sealing after sampling and conclude that it is therefore recommended not to sample oil on
bushings. This is a very clear direction being given by A2.
That said it is widely recognised that DGA has value diagnostically, with a good relationship with PF/C
results. Some will take an oil sample but use a central specialist team to do this, and only when a
problem is suspected and risk is high. Hydrogen is the normal indicator and sometimes acetylene is
found. However, bushings are sealed units and such gases may exist for years and perhaps be
induced when the new bushing had its factory acceptance testing.
An example of criteria from a European utility are:
Check for hydrogen gas on a capacitive layer bushing. This is a sign of onset of deterioration
of the internal insulating material, but this is not critical.
As soon as a few ppm of acetylene, C2H2, are detected then the bushing must be replaced as
this is considered a sign of high energy internal arcing. It can be replaced by similar porcelain
OIP (Oil Impregnated Paper) bushing since these are cheaper than Silicon RIP (Resin
Impregnated Paper). But the latter are less resilient to electromechanical forces when a close
fault appears.
In USA these problems are recognised. Many have decided that taking an oil sample from a
transformer bushing should not be a routine maintenance process unless there is a designed
removable sample opening on a bushing and a valve or opening to replace the oil. Any removing of oil
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needs agreement between the user and the bushing manufacturer. Removal of oil without
replacement can lower equipment insulation and lead to higher failure risk unless the procedures
provide for topping-up with pre-screened new oil. The lesson here is that a maintenance practice that
works well for one type of electrical equipment may not work well for another and can lead to an
unintended failure.
6.2.8. Instrument Transformers

Current transformer performance is reviewed in TB 512 (33) and advice on maintenance given in
TB 445 (27). TB 512 and ref (31) both report just under 20% of major failures are explosive. In all
major failures the cause is mainly dielectric in nature. This presents a significant risk to equipment and
personnel. Minor failures are mainly due to leaks. Ageing of expansion bellows is an issue with
cracking allowing either SF6 leakage, or moisture ingress into an oil insulated insulation. Other causes
of failure follow partial discharge at points of bad manufacture or where the core had slipped and
damaged the insulation. There are no routine maintenance tasks identified in TB 445 (27).
Diagnostics is used to indicate a malfunction. Oil analysis for DGA and moisture ingress is common
and acceptable on many dead tank designs. Others include UHF detection (see section 4.4).
Capacitor voltage transformers (CVT) have one or more hermetically sealed capacitance units and a
measurement unit. Maintenance is only restricted to the latter providing the sealing remains intact.
One of the main strategies to save cost for maintenance is to exchange O-rings at regular intervals. It
can prevent deterioration of parts inside boxes that is one of the main defects for instrument
transformers. Another strategy is to implement corking on sealed part in order to keep water or mist
atmosphere outside.
Other inspection item that should be done might be only measuring insulation resistance. This should
be done with other equipment at the same time, so that utilities can reduce outage time for inspection
and save cost for maintenance.
As well as strategies mentioned above, replacing insulator type instrument transformers for moulded
type ones can contribute to save maintenance cost, because of its high reliability.
A Canadian utility has reported savings from on-line testing procedures for CVTs that have been
developed which avoid outages, minimise maintenance and provide for advance warning of
developing problems. They consist of measurement of secondary voltages and interpretation of any
variation. They have standardised on insulation based on dry type insulation or SF6 gas for
freestanding CTs and replacing porcelain insulators with polymeric insulators, thus reducing the risk
of explosive failures in the switchyard. For CTs associated with circuit breakers, dead tank breakers
equipped with bushing CTs can be considered.
6.2.9. Capacitor Banks

Modern shunt capacitor banks are constructed with paper insulation, metal and polypropylene film
elements or packs. The predominant capacitor can types are fuse-less or internal fused designs that
have a stacking factor. A stacking factor is the voltage stress across the capacitor packs as they are
grouped and joined together to create a specific rating. The amount of voltage stress on the capacitor
packs directly affects the life of the capacitor can and impacts the reliability of the capacitor bank. A
typical can stacking factor or rating might be 2,100 volts/mm (IEEE 18 2012 (34)). By lowering the
stacking factor to allow for example 1,800 volts/mm or less, gives a significantly increased capacitor
life and availability. Currently there is not an adequate monitoring system so many transmission
utilities are proactively testing capacitor banks on a yearly basis to prevent forced outages. Reducing
the voltage stress on the capacitor cans reduce capacitor bank lockouts and the need for testing. The
additional reduction of voltage stress in the capacitor bank design will marginally increase the initial
cost but will extend life and reduce maintenance. The benefit of design change is to reduce the total
owning cost of the capacitor bank asset.
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6.3. Other Substation Equipment

6.3.1. Surge Arresters
FAILURE MODES FOR HV ARRESTERS
The construction of HV arresters is similar for the
various design types. A column of arresters is
mounted inside porcelain housing. There have been
three main designs, with the arrester unit consisting
of a set of spark gaps or stacks of silicon carbide
blocks, or more recently zinc oxide blocks. There are
two basic problems with these arresters. One arises
from the housing sealing, the other from ageing and
non-performance of the arrester unit. In the first case
water can enter due to a poor design of flange, poor
construction with tightness of gasket causing tiny
cracks in around the housing. The arrester relies
upon being insulating up to system voltages and any
presence of water will cause leakage at these
FIGURE 6.3-1 RESULTS OF WATER INGRESS INTO A
voltages and possible explosive failure. 500 KV RATED SIC SURGE ARRESTER
One consequence of both water ingress and arrester

degradation is an increase with time of the resistive component of the continuous leakage current.
This will cause an increase in power losses and hence increased arrester temperature, leading to
thermal instability and failure.
DIAGNOSTICS
A commonly used method is the infrared thermo-vision survey to detect increased block temperature
on the housing surface of the arrester. UHF scanning will detect continuous discharge in a defective
gap type arrester.
IEC 60099-5 (35), however, identifies just two techniques for diagnosing performance of Metal Oxide
Surge Arrester (MOSA). One is a HVDC test during an outage to derive the arrester knee point from a
current vs. voltage characteristic. This is an expensive test but sometimes used during
commissioning. The other recommended method is to measure a compensated third harmonic of the
Leakage Current Measurement (LCM) with the arrester in service. The MOSA has non-linear
properties when exposed to a sine voltage, thus generating harmonics, and it is these that are
measured, separating out (compensating) third harmonics from the system and those from the blocks.
This latter measurement is the most commonly used and can be used as a non-invasive method. But
it does rely upon the bottom flange being isolated from the support metalwork and taken to earth
using a separate cable, for example to go to a surge counter and then to the substation ground. This
type of arrangement can be seen in Figure 6.3-2. Here the CT for the LCM is clipped to the earth lead
between the arrester flange and the surge counter. The compensating probe is held or tripod mounted
as close as is reasonable to the arrester flange, having due regard to any minimum distance
regulations. To avoid an inductive path both are connected wirelessly to the measuring instrument
(not shown). The compensating probe measures the supply frequency and its harmonics. Subtracting
the two signals identifies the harmonics flowing through the arrester alone. Research has shown the
third harmonic to be the most suitable for measuring the resistive current.
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FIGURE 6.3-2 PROBES FOR COMPENSATED THIRD HARMONIC CURRENT MEASUREMENTS
A= Current transformer around earth lead to sense third harmonics through arrester
B= Compensating antenna to sense common mode third harmonics
C= Surge counter
The level of compensated current measured depends upon the arrester manufacturer and practice is
to set norms for each OEM. Any with significant values would be identified for out of service testing
and removed if confirmed. For out of service tests, moisture ingress can be detected using DC
insulation resistance or 10 kV AC dielectric loss. For example, an Indian utility has found in a recent
LCM survey that in one year they identified 70 arresters with high leakage and all could be traced to
either water ingress (70%) causing heating, or block deterioration.
TABLE 6.3-1 GENERAL MAINTENANCE TASKS
Inspection item Detail
Insulator
Terminal
Visual inspection,
Frame
cleaning
Current detector
Operating number counter
Compensated third harmonic leakage current

measurement
On line Measuring
tests UHF emissions for PD
Function test for operating number counter
In general, keeping track of leakage current values enables a utility to locate deterioration and bad
condition of surge arresters. Furthermore, an outage is not required for measurement of leakage
currents. As long as leakage current measurement is correctly implemented, other inspection items
such as visual inspection, cleaning, insulation resistance can be eliminated. This strategy will surely
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contribute to save maintenance cost, because utilities do not have to take outage periods for surge
arresters any more.
6.3.2. Post Insulators

Post insulators are an essential part of a substation as they are supporting the key components: the
busbars and the HV equipment. As they are by definition intended to give rigid support to a live part
which is to be insulated from earth or from another live part, their inspection during maintenance
works has to be done with a planned outage which can be very challenging when this outage has an
impact on a connected customer or on the security of supply.
Usual problems that can be looked for are:
Porcelain Non Ceramic Coated Insulators For

o Corrosion o Chalking Contaminated Areas
o Cracks o Torn Sheds o Aged Silicone
o Spalls o Cutting on Mould Grease Visible
o Loss of glaze Lines Cracks
o Deterioration of o Cracks o Accumulation of
resistive glaze o End Cap Seal Contamination
coating failure (exposed o Loss of
o Chipped Porcelain fibreglass rod) Hydrophobicity
o Damaged or o Deformed Sheds
Broken Corona
Ring
o Fibre Rod Cracks
The environment in which the insulator has to perform should be considered in the specification for
this device. Use of polymeric material for insulators may be considered in some environments. Care
must be taken in the specification of the type of polymer insulator since all insulators do not perform
the same for different types of contamination. CIGR Brochure 532 Uprating and Upgrading (36)
may be consulted as a guide to determine the type of insulator to use for contaminated areas.
Extended creepage distances, shape of the sheds all have impact on insulator performance in
polluted environments see IEC 60815 (37).
FIGURE 6.3-3 BROKEN SHEDS AND CRACKS
Sometimes due to a bad experience from specific manufacturers or perhaps from batches, precise
identification of those post insulators can be needed for corrective maintenance. The serial number or
the factory symbol engraved on the suspected post insulators then needs to be collected.
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An optimised maintenance for those assets can be achieved by using innovating methodology and
tools to reduce or even suppress the need of an outage. The key is to use devices that allow visual
inspections by an operator that can be done without any impact of the substations operations. The
most convenient way is to use a remote camera. Two types of device can be used:
A WIFI camera placed on an insulating rod

A WIFI camera placed on an airborne drone
FIGURE 6.3-4 WIFI CAMERA ON AN INSULATING ROD
The major concern when developing those maintenance techniques is to guarantee the safety of
operators and to limit as much as possible the impact on network operations. Both can be achieved
by conducting thorough studies and tests to define the requirements needed for the devices used
(type of insulating rods, of cameras, etc.) and the appropriate mode of operation.
Usual requirements to allow those maintenance inspections without any impact or specific network
operations restrictions are:
The use of synthetic materials to connect the camera to the insulating rod.
The insulating rod must be operated from the ground and the camera must not touch/hit the
live parts.
The post insulators inspected must be dry.
The survey of each equipment must not last more than 15min. Between each survey the
camera must be brought back to the ground.
The camera must not enter the safety clearance defined around the post insulators.
This last constraint could be avoided with the use of a remote camera installed on an airborne drone
as the risk for the operator is null due to the absence of possible electrical path during the inspection.
6.3.3. Maintenance of EHV/HV Connectors and Busbar Systems

Little maintenance is required to the busbar itself. Structures and HV connections should be
considered as indicated in section 6.3.2.
CBM should be applied with IR inspections, UV/PD surveys and visual checks.
It is possible to install shunts in some locations where issues have been identified with HV
connections. Potential attention should be given to earthing cable connections above the busbar zone
as they might create a busbar fault if they break, visual inspection or direct measurement of the
connection integrity is recommended.
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6.3.4. Transformer Oil Bunds/Pits

Part of a routine patrol should include inspection of the concrete bund wall. Any cracks could lead to
an oil leak and environmental pollution.
Oil detectors are commonly installed in oil pits in order to prevent drainage pumps operating if oil is
detected in the water in the bund. An operation test of oil detectors is recommended to prevent the
risk of leakage of oil to the environment.
6.3.5. Site Perimeter Security Fence

Fences in substation are installed to prevent unauthorised entry of humans and animals. For
substations in mountainous area and rural districts it is often necessary to implement additional
special countermeasures against small animals.
It is recommended to include the following checks during substation patrols:
Damage to fence
Integrity of locking mechanisms
It is also important to check the integrity of the earthing of the substation fence has been retained.
6.3.6. Access Roads, ducts and lighting

ACCESS ROADS
Generally there are few opportunities to save costs relating to substation access roads. Access to the
substation must generally be maintained such that crews can gain quick access if needed. Potential
savings can be achieved with the use of long life materials requiring minimal future maintenance.
DUCTS
If cracks and damage occur in ducts and their lids they may not be strong enough to withstand
external forces like earthquakes or strong enough at road crossings, which are designed to support
passing cranes used for maintenance work in the substation. In order to prevent the above it is
important to check existence of cracks and damage in ducts and lids.
Countermeasures to prevent spread of fire can also serve to prevent the ingress of small animals from
entering the substation buildings. These should be checked to see if whether there are failures or not.
The following items should be checked during substation patrols:
Cracks or other damage in ducts and lids

Cracks or other damage in countermeasures to prevent the spread of fire
In order to limit its carbon footprint (concrete accounts for 25% of the total emission) and increase the
lifetime of its components, a change in design for ducts has been implemented in a European utility.
Here the replacement for concrete is with recycled plastic-base products for ducts.
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Concrete Duct Recycled Plastic Duct Recycled Plastic Duct

Cover
FIGURE 6.3-5 POTENTIAL ALTERNATIVE TO TRADITIONAL CONCRETE DUCTS
Those ducts manufactured locally (thus limiting the shipping emissions) are made out of 95% of
recycled plastic coming from low voltage cables insulating sheaths. This material is resistant to
damage and less brittle than concrete, which is definitely an asset considering the number of broken
lids due to ageing and/or frost. It is much lighter than concrete and is anti-slip, which is a benefit for
staff safety during operation and maintenance works. The only drawback is that this material is not as
fire-retardant as concrete.
LIGHTS
Indoor work places lighting
Lights need to be checked to be operational at the time of patrol for equipment in buildings (eg.
panels, charging devices and batteries). If non-functional lights are found, it is necessary to
investigate the cause of failure. Emergency lights need to be tested in order to be operational in case
of the lack of an AC source.
Possible saving of energy can be achieved by using low power LED lighting or similar in substations.
Designs are available for lighting which enables replacement of bulbs at low level eliminating the need
for ladders and potential clearance issues. There are also lighting control systems which can help
reduce costs generated by leaving the lights on unnecessarily. The following items should be checked
during patrols:
Blowouts and broken wires.

Light test for emergency lights.
Outdoor work places lighting
The first aim is to comply with requirements of the relevant technical standards, for example
BS EN 12464-2 Lighting of outdoor work places (38). The second aim is to reduce obtrusive light and
the last one is to provide optimal lighting condition for cameras in the security systems of the
substation (if used). The project lighting calculation should include:
Fence lighting (surrounding the electrical substation fence).

Road lighting (all roads that can be used by cars in the electrical substation).
Lighting of work places (such as a substation switchgear and instrument transformers;
transformer lighting, equipment marshalling boxes/kiosks).
The transformers are recommended to be lit by floodlights with an asymmetric light distribution curve
and use metal halide lamps as the light source. The illuminance should be maintained in both,
horizontal and vertical directions (a typical value of 50 lux is used in some jurisdictions). To avoid
obtrusive light during operation, the work place lighting in substations is provided by sodium discharge
floodlights with an asymmetric light distribution curve. LED lamps used for security purposes enable a
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utility to set the lighting properly according to the security cameras requirements (10 lux) and to dim
the lighting if needed. To reach the correct function of CCTV the lighting system design has to be
provided with a good quality camera luminance. The lighting at 50 lux together with the camera
system is generally adequate to allow recognition of car type license plates and identification of
people in cars outside of the gate.
The lighting for an outdoor substation must also ensure that the design used is such that it can be
maintained without impact on the HV element of the substation and without the need for outages.
Optimisation of the lighting system control
Today new control systems are being evolved which work as programmable devices. Communication
among the units can be realised by means of LAN resulting in potential savings with reduced cabling
requirements. The outdoor lighting of electric substations can be controlled in cooperation with a
safety camera system (CCTV). A remote access VPN is also possible.
The substation lighting system can be monitored and diagnosed during its operation. The diagnosis
can be used for the control system. The number of operating hours of the luminaires can be used to
optimise the lighting system maintenance. [ (39) (40) (41)]
6.3.7. Support structures and foundations

As the top of metal structures may be near live parts, it may be difficult to conduct visual inspection at
height. Therefore, a patrol must be conducted from ground level using binoculars as well as patrol for
busbar.
Metal structures can attract bird nesting and it is necessary to check for nests by patrol. If nests are
found on the metal structure, they should be removed immediately to avoid risk of ground faults.
When it is necessary to withdraw nests near live parts, the work may require a planned outage.
With regard to rusting by aging, it may be

efficient to take countermeasures by
painting at the time of inspection for
equipment connected to the metal
structure with a planned outage.
Substation patrols should include checks
for evidence of bird nesting and also
corrosion.
Identification of the scale of potential

corrosion is important for support
steelwork. Digital photographs may be
used to help analysis and record this.
Use of devices such as tablet computers
to capture and record items such as this
can be a useful aid.
Failure to address corrosion issues on

support structures can result in significant FIGURE 6.3-6 PHOTOGRAPH OF A UK SUBSTATION WITH
future costs if complete structure ALUMINIUM SUPPORT STRUCTURES FOR HV EQUIPMENT AND
replacement is required. In some areas BUSBARS
aluminium is used for substation support
structures. Aluminium has excellent
properties for corrosion protection.
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6.3.8. Buildings
Substation Buildings should be inspected at regular intervals to ensure the integrity of the building has
not been compromised. Maintenance preformed on the substation building should be appropriate for
the use of the building in question.
Specific risks to check may include:
Moisture ingress roof integrity, cable entry points etc.

Vermin ingress.
Risk of damage to cabling/wiring risk of mal-operation of C&P equipment.
Locks and door integrity.
Air conditioning/ventilation systems.
Risk to LV equipment including battery systems.
Fire-fighting devices/systems.
Earthing of the building.
Maintenance of basement drainage systems (ensuring pumps working, drains unblocked
etc.).
Panel boards, charging devices and batteries are generally not specified to withstand an outdoor
climate. Therefore, buildings need to protect internal equipment from airborne contamination, rain,
etc. However, if the buildings are not appropriately sealed (or seals become compromised) then rain
and pollution may enter the buildings. A failed charging device, located under a leaking roof is shown
in Figure 6.3-7. As panel boards, charging devices and batteries are important equipment that control
and protect HV assets, failure of this equipment has a detrimental effect on the operation of the
substation.
FIGURE 6.3-7 FAILURE OF CHARGING DEVICES DUE TO RAIN LEAKAGE
The impact of a failure of the buildings defences against external elements (water, vermin, intruders
etc.) can be extreme and lead to high cost outages. As such it is recommended that the design of the
building is resistant to these factors throughout the design life and appropriate maintenance is carried
out to ensure building defences remain functional.
Refer to case study from Belgium in section 12.4 on asset management of substation buildings.
6.3.9. Animal Abatement Systems

It has been reported by some utilities that installation of animal abatement systems will improve
substation reliability and availability, particularly for distribution substations. These systems can be
relatively inexpensive and easy to install.
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FIGURE 6.3-8 SHIELDING OF HV CONNECTIONS EXAMPLE CANADA
6.4. Control and Protection Equipment

As for control and protection devices, utilities seldom exchange partial components until it is time to
replace the whole device with a new one, which is unlike primary equipment. A great deal of
maintenance cost tends to be spent for periodical inspection to check its condition, or repair work in
the case of failure. Therefore, it is an essential element in the control and protection field to reduce
both inspection costs and failure rates.
The following provides some items which can be considered to reduce maintenance cost.
6.4.1. Reduction of Periodic Inspection Costs

EXTEND MAINTENANCE INTERVALS
Generally the condition of control and protection devices is checked by periodic inspection. Interval
and the specific items of inspection differ from utility to utility, device to device. Replacing an analogue
relay with a digital relay with a continuous monitoring and automatic test function may enable the
utility to extend the inspection interval and reduce inspection items.
Digital relays generally have inbuilt continuous monitoring and automatic test functionality, by which
an abnormal condition can be detected. Fatal failures, affecting protection performance can be
detected by such continuous monitoring and automatic test functionality.
Compared to analogue relays the reliability of digital relays has shown significant dramatically
improvement enabling utilities to extend associated maintenance intervals.
REDUCTION OF INSPECTION ITEMS

Compared with analogue relays, the digital relay element is enabled in software and does not change
in its performance over time. Thus a characteristic test and simulated fault test may be omitted from
maintenance even though it is indispensable for an analogue relay. Considerable time and equipment
needed for inspection is therefore saved.
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ADVANCES IN TESTING
Sequence testing may also be omitted as an automatic test for hard circuit wiring is now available.
The tables below illustrate a comparison of the recommended testing required during protection
maintenance and the comparison between the requirements for a modern numerical relay versus an
older analogue relay.
TABLE 6.4-1 EXPLANATION OF TESTING ITEMS
Visual check Inspection of construction
Insulation resistance measurement Measure insulation resistance of various circuits
Voltage measurement of power source Measure a voltage of power source
Relay characteristic test Measurement Minimum operating value, Operating

time, Phase characteristic, Ratio characteristic,
Voltage-current characteristic, etc.
Simulated fault test Measurement Circuit breaker action, Relay operating

time with two phase short-circuit fault and one phase
earth fault etc.Relay operation and indicator
Measurement Minimum operating value, Operating
time, Phase characteristic, Ratio characteristic,
Voltage-current characteristic, etc.
Display confirmation Check displays that are control switchboard and

remote control centre, confirmation when Relay was
operated. (can also be done in sequence test)
Voltage and current measurement on Measurement relay input voltages and currents, and
transformer compared with analogue to digital conversion value
Sequence test Check the sequences (e.g. CB trip sequence) by using

a check pin and a forced actuation command.
TABLE 6.4-2 TESTING ITEMS OF REGULAR INSPECTIONEXAMPLE)
Analogue relay Digital relay

Interval In a 3 year cycle In a 6 year cycle
Testing Items Visual check Visual check
Insulation resistance measurement Insulation resistance measurement
Voltage measurement of power source Voltage measurement of power source
Relay characteristic test Sequence test
Simulated fault test
Display confirmation Display confirmation
Voltage and current measurement on Voltage and current measurement on
transformer transformer
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6.4.2. Strategy to Reduce Failure Rates

It is very difficult for asset owners to take action to reduce failure rates in existing protection and
control devices. One good strategy to achieve this may be to develop good cooperative arrangements
between utilities and manufacturers, so that manufacturers can acquire operational experience and
information from utilities to improve their products. Additional criteria in selection of a manufacturer
with a proven record on supply of reliable devices may assist in maximising reliability.
Following are some specific measures to reduce failure rate of protection and control device which
can be achieved in the relationship mentioned above. It is effective to reduce defective parts and
assembly faults.
STRATEGY TO REDUCE DEFECTIVE PARTS DURING MANUFACTURING

Screening
Screening is a technique used to remove inherent defects in early failure modes by deliberately
adding some stress to the component, according to the applicable failure mechanism. Manufacturers
apply screening techniques in each phase of the production process to improve overall reliability.
Replacing previous parts with new ones with higher reliability
Since the digital relay is required to have high reliability, it is necessary to observe its failure rate
continuously and replace old parts with new ones if it is required.
Reduction of subcomponent numbers (i.e. Adoption of highly integrated elements)
An effective strategy to enhance the reliability of the digital relay is to reduce the number of
subcomponents used in their construction. Component numbers have been significantly reduced by
adopting large-scale integration (LSI) techniques. The number of components per device has
dramatically declined by reducing the size of the CPU board, the use of large scale memory devices,
and adoption of field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technologies.
STRATEGY TO REDUCE ASSEMBLY FAULTS DURING MANUFACTURING

Mechanisation and automation of manufacture
Mechanisation and automation is one of good measures to reduce assembly faults, because it can
prevent assembling faults caused by a difference of individual technique.
Recently, automated testing equipment, such as In-Circuit Testers and an Appearance Inspection
Devices have been used to test assembled components and boards. Automated In-Circuit Testers
can check circuit connections on boards and solder joints automatically.
Electrostatic countermeasures
To take appropriate measures to prevent damage by electrostatic discharge is of great importance

when handling semiconductor devices. Recently, increasing incidents of damage caused by dielectric
charging from friction or electrification in the manufacturing procedure have been noted. Therefore, in
addition to the antistatic measures against human body or equipment, device's own electrification
should be also considered.
6.5. LV AC/DC Auxiliary Equipment

6.5.1. Battery Systems
Substation batteries are the backbone of the protection and communication systems. Typically
inspections and tests are performed throughout the year to maintain the health of the DC supply
system. Traditional maintenance activities have been manual and labour intensive. In the United
Page 84
States FERC reliability standards require more frequent testing of batteries unless monitoring is
installed. The ability to detect a bad cell quarter or connection is vital to prevent miss operation of both
protection relays and substation equipment. Monitoring directly reduces maintenance costs by
reducing substation visits, testing and inspection. Battery health, availability and longevity have been
greatly improved with continuous monitoring systems.
Most utilities use Vented Lead-Acid or lead calcium station batteries (VLA). Other commonly available
types are lead selenium, Valve-Regulated Lead-Acid (VRLA), and Nickel-Cadmium (NiCad).
Substation batteries can be tested annually with an instrument called a cellcorder for cell resistance,
inter-cell connection resistance, specific gravity and cell voltage. Together with a visual examination
for cell and ambient conditions, the condition of the battery can be determined. The batteries are also
visually checked during the substation inspection, which typically takes place, depending on the size
of the substation, at 1 to 6 months interval. A visual inspection can check and record on a hand-held
device the condition of the battery room, ventilation, ambient temperature, electrolyte level, battery
terminals and plates and the battery rack and containers.
The expected man-hours to perform the cellcorder test and the associated visual assessment is
typically 7.5 hours.
In contrast, traditionally the batteries were tested annually by completing a discharge capacity test.
This test was lengthy, more costly and damaging to the battery, compared to the methods available
today, with an expected labour cost of 20 man-hours.
The current practice in a Canadian utility is that a discharge capacity test is conducted when the
battery reaches 18 years, and if the test indicates deterioration the battery is replaced. If the
discharge capacity test is successful, the battery is retained for a maximum additional 7 years. The
battery is replaced regardless of the condition at 25 years. This practice has resulted in savings for
this utility.
For bulk transmission systems in the US, the NERC Reliability standards (PRC-005-2) (42) require
regular intervals to verify station DC supply voltage, and inspection of electrolyte level and
unintentional grounds. The maximum interval is 4 calendar months for VLA, VRLA and NiCad types
(electrolyte level is not applicable for VRLA though). In addition, for VLA and NiCad types the
condition of all individual units is inspected visually on a maximum interval of 18 calendar months. For
non-visual VLA or VRLA types, the condition of all individual units is inspected by measuring battery
cell/unit internal ohmic values (6 calendar months maximum interval for VRLA).
Also required on a maximum of 18 calendar months (VLA, VRLA, NiCad) is verification of float voltage
of battery charger, battery continuity, battery terminal connection resistance, battery inter-cell or unit-
to-unit connection resistance, and inspection of battery rack physical condition. The continuity
verification will also indicate over time if the battery load is increasing to a point where battery or
charger replacement may be necessary due to under-capacity.
A performance capacity test is required for VLA or NiCad types on a maximum interval of 6 calendar
years (VRLA is maximum interval of 3 calendar years). Or instead, performance tests for VLA and
VRLA can be verified by evaluating the cell/unit measurements against a baseline (maximum interval
of 18 calendar months for VLA and 6 months for VRLA).
For any of these requirements where monitoring and alarming is employed, then the maximum
maintenance interval is not specified. As such installation of monitoring systems may result in
significant savings in these jurisdictions. It should be noted that care is needed in selection of a robust
and reliable monitoring system that meets the utilities requirements.
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FIGURE 6.5-1 LITHIUM ION BATTERY TRIAL IN UK
FIGURE 6.5-2 TYPICAL LEAD-ACID SUBSTATION BATTERY ROOM
6.5.2. Auxiliary generators

Most utilities use diesel auxiliary generators for substations where additional redundancy is required
to the locally available supply. Consideration to use alternative fuels for generators such as Propane
and to set up for automatic remote testing and monitoring systems may result in cost savings for
these devices.
An example of policy from a Canadian utility is that diesel generators are installed only where
absolutely necessary to ensure that fuel costs, maintenance costs and the effect on the environment
are minimised. Diesel generators are not installed where there are other back-up power systems
available. Minor inspections are performed annually, involving lubrication and checks on various
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components, with major inspection scheduled at 5 years intervals. Substation inspections also record
visually accessible parameters.
6.6. Earthing Systems

The substation earthing system is vital for correct operation of the system and to the safety of utility
staff and others in the vicinity of the substation. As such, care should be taken to ensure that the earth
grid is maintained appropriately.
Proper values of earthing resistance cannot be ensured in cases where the integrity of the earthing
conductors has been compromised (refer to TB 300 chapter 3.14 (43)).
During patrols it is recommended to check for corrosion and looseness in ground terminals and for
damage and disconnection in earth/ground wire. If an abnormality is found then correction is required
and further inspection may be required where the earth grid resistance and conduction is measured
and compared to design values.
As earthing systems are an essential part of the safety measures taken to limit the risk for
maintenance personnel while performing works inside a substation, regulatory requirements can exist
for this specific substation level asset.
For example in France, the regulatory technical framework (Arrt Technique du 17 mai 2001
Article 9) specifies that the physical continuity of the earthing mat needs to be checked visually (if the
earthing conductor is accessible) or via an electrical measurement every 10 years for all the
substations.
As the majority of substations use copper conductor for the substation earthing system a very
significant cost for the utility can be to replace this conductor following theft. Theft of copper conductor
has been reported from many countries. A possible mitigation method is to consider use of alternative
materials for earthing such as copper-clad steel or aluminium (above ground) to reduce the risk.
Testing of the earth grid to ensure that it is still functioning as designed is recommended. In situations
where the earth grid has been corroded to the extent where it is not functioning correctly can impact
the insulation performance of the substation and result in maloperation and failure of other equipment
in the substation as well has introducing touch and step potential hazards.
6.7. Fire Suppression Systems

There are many types of fire protection systems and devices that can be used in substations. The
biggest fire risk in a substation is from ignition within the large oil volume in a power transformer. This
may follow from failure of a bushing or an arc within the windings. Utilities need to consider the cost of
suppression systems relative to the collateral damage the fire may cause. Alternative transformer
fluids can be used to reduce the risk and oil containment walls are built to contain the oil and fire. In
other cases the risk of fire needs to be managed more actively. In low impact situations the optimal
solution could be not to install any fire suppression at all. However, in other cases it may be required
to install water deluge or more complex systems which will react quickly to a fire and so protect the
other elements of the substation. Fire suppression systems may also be installed in substation
buildings and again these should be designed relative to the risks present.
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7. OPTIMISING MAINTENANCE STRATEGY - UTILITY EXPERIENCE

7.1. Introduction
The questionnaire in chapter 5 described a range of activities being undertaken by utilities. Individual
asset based initiatives have been described in chapter 6. Here we outline a range of companywide
changes that have led to savings as the assets are managed in a sustainable way.
7.2. Savings through Sustainment Strategies

It is useful to start with the definition of Sustainment as applicable to an electrical Transmission
System:
Definition of Sustainment: the activities required to preserve to an acceptable benchmark the level
of system reliability via exercising the optimal maintenance and/or replacement of critical components
of the system.
7.2.1. Savings through a Series of Sustainment Initiatives

This example comes from a government-owned Canadian utility. The utility, like many others in North
America, has an ageing equipment fleet that was mostly installed in the 1960s and 1970s and a
greying and shrinking work force. Under the circumstances, the utility has transitioned in the past 15
years from mostly a policy of time-based maintenance to a holistic approach.
The utility employs a combination of time-based, condition-based, reliability-based and corrective

methodology, depending on various circumstances such as equipment type, position in the system,
accessibility, availability of outages, reliability records, age of equipment, opportunistic savings (e.g.
scheduling maintenance of equipment under the same outage), availability of parts and last but not
least capital replacements with modern, minimal-maintenance equipment.
To optimise this holistic approach, for the past 10 years the utility has centralised the equipment
maintenance and replacement functions under one department in charge of T&D Sustainment. Thus
decisions on maintenance of whole classes of equipment are scrutinised by the same asset
managers that decide on maintenance policies as well as replacement of ageing, end-of-life
equipment. The Sustainment department coordinates its decisions with the relevant Planning
department, to ensure that existing as well as new facilities fall within the long-term system planning
objectives.
The entire maintenance system pivots on the Maintenance Standards (MS). Each class of major
equipment, down to the model type and ratings of that particular equipment, is covered by a specific
MS. Each MS consists of a Condition Assessment (CA) and a list of data collected for the Asset
Health Index. The CA covers the following essentials:
Equipment model and manufacturer.

Equipment ratings.
Simplified sketch.
Maintenance activities required for the specific model.
Maintenance intervals for these activities (time or operation-based).
Recommended Man-hours for these activities1.
Test parameters, units of measure (e.g. A, , kPa, mm, etc.) their minimum and maximum
acceptable values, actual values as found/left.
1 The suggested Man-hours cover exclusively the maintenance time, and do not include variables
such as travel time to substation, isolation and grounding activities, safety instructions, etc.
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Special warnings/remarks as applicable.

Comments from the maintenance providers.
The MS forms are stored on an internal website available to employees, and are reviewed periodically
by the Maintenance Standards Committee (that includes equipment specialists from Engineering,
Asset Management as well as Field Maintenance representatives) to include comments and
suggestions from various parties.
The maintenance activities are triggered automatically by the computer-based system, which stores
equipment basic information (position, main ratings, commissioning dates), the dates when
maintenance has been performed, costs allocated based on the type of work (planned, condition-
based, corrective) and issues work orders based on the MS scheduled intervals (time or operations-
based).
SAVINGS THROUGH SUSTAINMENT

Due to the issues mentioned above, in the past 15 years the utility has strived to reduce the overall
maintenance costs, while maintaining and enhancing the system reliability by employing the holistic
approach. Below is a short list of the initiatives adopted:
Extension of the time-based maintenance. Originally most maintenance intervals and

activities were based on the manufacturer-suggested schedules. Accumulated experience on
various type of equipment allowed the interval extensions. As typical examples are the SF6
breakers (intervals for basic maintenance extended from 6 to 8 or 10 years).
Replacement of time-based intervals with operations-based intervals for specific equipment
and positions, such as switching positions for shunt reactors and capacitor banks, and
maintenance of On Load Tap Changers (OLTCs).
Elimination of some test activities (e.g. power factor testing on SF6 or epoxy/composite
insulated equipment, metal-oxide surge arresters) that did not bring significant value.
Higher reliance on different methods that do not always require outages (e.g. thermography,
dissolved-gas-in-oil sampling) versus power factor testing (for bushings, ITs) or contact
resistance (for disconnect switches).
Removing all preventive maintenance of disconnect switches, stations-service transformers
and cables rated 25 kV and lower, in favour of condition and corrective-based maintenance.
Synchronisation of maintenance intervals for outage-related equipment situated in outage
zones (e.g. circuit breakers and their associated disconnects, CTs and series reactors,
transformers and associated OLTCs and disconnects, series capacitor banks and associated
disconnects, by-pass breakers and instrument transformers, etc.).
Removal of scheduled major maintenance when an equipment item is scheduled for
replacement within the next 3 years.
Replacement of end-of-life or maintenance-intensive equipment (e.g. air-blast circuit breakers
and associated compressed air systems) with new, modern equipment requiring minimal
maintenance (e.g. SF6 breakers equipped with spring-spring operated mechanisms).
Replacement of multiple pieces of equipment with single units, i.e. replacement of LT circuit
breakers, associated CTs and disconnects with hybrid all-in-one units that require little
maintenance for 25 years.
Opting for static devices versus mechanical maintenance-intensive ones, i.e. using 500 kV
circuit breakers combined with high-energy surge arresters and point-on-wave controllers
versus closing resistors.
Replacing circuit switches that cannot withstand frequent switching of 500 kV shunt reactors
with circuit breakers equipped with point-on-wave controllers.
Replacing air-blast and minimum-oil circuit breakers and associated free-standing CTs with
dead tank circuit breakers equipped with bushing CTs
Replacement of circuit breakers with new breakers using exclusively spring-spring operated
mechanisms, rather than maintenance-intensive pneumatic or hydraulic mechanisms.
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Major overhaul programs of whole classes of equipment by the OEM (e.g. overhaul of
hydraulic drives on older GIS breakers, replacement of metalclad based air magnetic circuit
breakers with new, vacuum breakers in combination with arc-resistant retrofits on the
metalclad switchgear).
CONCLUSION
As a result of such initiatives, the current annual maintenance budget has been reduced in real terms.
Now it is 33% less than the annual maintenance budget allocated 15 years ago.
In the process, under the Sustainment effort, practically the entire fleet of 500 kV circuit breakers
(approx. 200 units) has been rejuvenated using new types of equipment (live tank SF6 breakers
equipped with spring-operated mechanisms, SAs and SF6 insulated CTs, or all-in-one hybrids with
spring mechanisms, built-in disconnects and CTs). Most of the 230 kV bulk oil, air-blast or double-
pressure SF6 (first generation) breakers and associated oil CTs have been replaced with dead tank
SF6 breakers with bushing CTs.
A similar effort is under way with regards to the 60 and 138 kV breakers as well as the distribution
breakers (12 & 25 kV).
Other classes of equipment have also benefited from less intrusive, less frequent maintenance and
better engineering requirements applicable to the replacement equipment (e.g. they have
standardised on non-oil insulated ITs and bushings, composite bushings and insulators, high energy-
absorption SAs, vacuum-type circuit breakers at distribution voltages and vacuum-type OLTCs).
Such achievements can be credited to a large extent to the initiative to centralise maintenance and
replacement decisions under Sustainment and staff the department with the required technical
expertise.
7.2.2. Savings through Maintenance Optimisation

This specific example comes from a European utility.
OVERALL SUBSTATION MAINTENANCE PHILOSOPHY

Substations worldwide are equipped with switchgear, transformers, protection & control, auxiliary
equipment, which are subtly different yet are functionally identical, irrespective of manufacturer or
generation. Transformers vary in physical size, capacity, termination technology, etc. but are generally
of the same form, i.e. oil filled, steel tank with iron laminated core, bushings, current transformers,
Buchholz gas detection and tap changers. Circuit breakers may be air blast, oil insulating or SF6 type
but generally have contacts, mechanisms, fluid or gas indication, etc.
When it comes to a maintenance strategy, the starting point is the manufacturers recommendations.
Then, the experience of the utility is compared to the recommendations of the manufacturer. Often
with new equipment, the utilities maintenance representative will visit the manufacturers factories and
consider what and how the maintenance shall be carried out. Once all pertinent information is
available, the utilitys maintenance representative creates a Maintenance Specification Document for
future use by the maintenance team.
Some considerations by the utility, to ensure high availability, maintain high reliability and minimise
costs, are:
By undertaking maintenance on equipment that is performing satisfactorily may introduce

issues into the piece of equipment. Consideration shall be given as to whether there is any
benefit in performing the maintenance at all as this may introduce an unnecessary risk.
Suppliers provide tools and fittings to enable their equipment to be maintained. When multi-
manufacturers equipment is installed at a site, each requiring a different combination of
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fittings, then there may be a risk of attempting to maintain this equipment with the wrong
combination of fittings, which can introduce problems unnecessarily.
Non-intrusive testing (particularly on overhead connections), using thermal imaging products,
is preferably selected rather than opening up the equipment for fear of introducing foreign
bodies or creating other issues. Carrying out good quality training and providing good quality
thermal cameras may be better cost option than intrusive maintenance.
Circuit breakers, for instance, require a number of considerations:
o Timing of circuit breakers, for example, has traditionally been measured across the
primary contacts. This requires an outage, of course, but with GIS access to the
primary contacts for micro-ohm resistance tests can be difficult depending on the
Utilities Safety Rules. Therefore, in GIS using the auxiliary switch contacts has
become an acceptable practice for primary contact travel. This practice can be
transferred to AIS SF6 and oil circuit breakers.
o SF6 gas monitoring and testing may be carried out more often than the
manufacturers recommendations. The high cost of a forced outage is
disproportionate to the lower cost of more frequent monitoring. Maximum Availability
is essential to a successful utility.
o Although each manufacturer strives to increase the intervals at which maintenance is
necessary, from a utility perspective ensuring procedures and processes are kept
simple is important to maintaining plant availability. Spring mechanisms, for example,
can be treated as the same irrespective of manufacturer. From the utilitys staff
perspective, a spring mechanism from one supplier is very much the same as that of
another manufacturer. When a mixture of suppliers mechanisms are installed at one
site then confusion as to whether a mechanism has been maintained, or not, can lead
to one missing a maintenance interval altogether. Each manufacturer will state the
maintenance milestone; say after every 6 years, 9 years, 10 years, etc. of operation.
It is much clearer for all concerned if all spring mechanisms are maintained at the
same interval, e.g. every 6 years. This way outage planning, tools and personnel can
be organised clearly, consistently and easily.
If a piece of plant in mounted indoors, then the maintenance interval can be extended beyond
that of the outdoor version. Disconnectors, located indoors, may only need maintaining once
every 18 years, for example, instead of 9 years if located outdoors.
Sampling points, which are too high to access, can be piped down to provide sufficient
electrical safety distance between the person taking the sample and the high voltage
equipment. Otherwise, without the piping down, an outage would have to be arranged.
The lifelong maintenance of fire deluge systems can be more expensive than the
maintenance of the transformer they are protecting. Consideration of the overall benefit of fire
protection should be given at the design stage.
Modern electronic systems themselves present maintenance issues, therefore, these systems
may be adopted prudently and where there is significant benefit.
Often, the cost of maintaining monitoring systems is more than the cost of the monitoring system
itself. Simple monitoring is more cost effective from an installation and lifelong maintenance
perspective.
Different electronic based systems create a proliferation of monitor screens in the control room. Often
the over complicated information provided is of no assistance to the maintenance team, to the point
where it is unreliable, misleading and has to be viewed with caution. Less complicated and simple
systems should be adopted wherever possible.
Regular planned patrols are the best way to determine if something is not running as designed. Often,
during these patrols various issues can be detected; such as leaks in equipment, equipment may be
emitting an unusual or unexpected noise, etc. all of which would not be evident without the site visit.
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Low voltage AC distribution boards are a particularly difficult item to maintain. For safety of personnel
isolation of the AC power in-feeds to the board removes all supplies to the substation auxiliaries.
Thorough planning is therefore necessary to ensure the supplies are isolated for a minimum period of
time. Often, engineering judgement is necessary as some components on this type of equipment are
not accessible without considerable effort. If the accessible male contacts are in an acceptable
condition, for instance, then it may be assumed that the hidden female contact is also in good order.
All parts may then be greased, closed up and return back to service.
Modern lubricants, oils, greases, fuels, etc. have been substantially improved compared to their
equivalents in the past. Modern diesel fuel contains detergents that ensure engines no longer need
de-coking as they did in the past. Modern greases have a much longer life and can be applied to old
equipment, which will increase their overall operating life but care must be taken with the compatibility
of some modern greases.
Mechanical equipment fails usually due to fatigue or wear. With good lubrication, equipment can last
well beyond their design life. Spare parts are only required if the original components are worn.
Modern lubricants ensure wear is minimal with a knock on effect that the equipment last longer and
the maintenance intervals may be extended. Extending these intervals must only be considered if
there is no detriment to the equipment.
CONCLUSION
When considering whether to refurbish equipment or replace it, the following should be noted:
Refurbishment can extend the life of equipment by a further 20 years.

The cost of replacement is not just limited to the equipment itself, but will include the civil
works disposal and new modification works, electrical wiring and cabling, engineering of the
new solution in terms of electrical, mechanical and civil design, the cost of outages, etc.
Age is no indication for replacement. If the equipment is not worn and it is well lubricated then
the old equipment will continue to perform satisfactorily or as originally designed.
7.2.3. Savings through Maintenance Staff Organisation

These experiences are from a Japanese utility that operates and maintains more than 900
substations including underground/indoor/outdoor substations. In the maintenance activities, the utility
has separately organised Electrical Engineering Department, Technical Engineering Centre and Field
Maintenance Construction Office, respectively (as shown in following Figure 7.2-1).
For years, the utility has been working on saving maintenance cost and optimisation. In general, it is
necessary to evaluate maintenance activity by analysing maintenance records and failure trends to
review maintenance intervals or items. Technical knowledge and tools such as databases are needed
to achieve maintenance optimisation. "Electrical Engineering Technology Centre" was established to
deal with such technical activities. On the other hand, "Electrical Engineering Department" is focusing
on strategy and policy, and Field Offices are working on practical maintenance work.
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FIGURE 7.2-1 TYPICAL ORGANISATION AND ROLES OF EACH SECTION
These sections cooperate together to achieve maintenance optimisation. Many working groups or
meetings are organised and members from these section exchange frank opinions, which lead to
good ideas for saving maintenance cost. Actual savings can be achieved through considered staff
organisation..
7.2.4. Savings through a Combination of Maintenance

Strategies
In this example from a European utility, the maintenance activity is carried out based on:
Internal technical specifications.

Technical norm of National Energy Regulatory Authority.
There is a combination between various types of maintenance: Corrective Maintenance, Time-Based

Maintenance, Condition Based Maintenance and Reliability Centred Maintenance.
The maintenance activity is provided by a dedicated company who has a contract with the utility. This
company provides corrective maintenance and preventive maintenance.
PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE (TIME-BASED MAINTENANCE, CONDITION

BASED MAINTENANCE AND RELIABILITY CENTRED MAINTENANCE)
The following are the levels of intervention used:
Level 1: Visual Inspection

o Supervising, visual checks, periodic inspections.
o Time-Based Maintenance (TBM).
Level 2: Minor Maintenance
o Minor works, like removal subassembly for periodic checks.
o Time-Based Maintenance (TBM).
Level 1 and 2 are called Preventive minor Maintenance (PmM) and depend on the category, voltage
level and technical features of the functional assemblies and their components. Preventive Minor
Maintenance is a Time-Based Maintenance, so it is planned at pre-set time intervals, recommended
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by the OEM and/or based on the operating experience, also considering equipments significance
within the National Power Grid.
Level 3: Major Maintenance

o Comes from Preventive Major Maintenance (PMM) programme.
o Condition Based Maintenance (CBM).
Level 4 Overhaul
o Comes from PMM programme.
o Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM).
Level 5 Replacement
Level 3 and 4 are called Preventive Major Maintenance (PMM) and it includes maintenance activities
based on the determination/forecasting of the technical condition made on the basis of the information
obtained from preventive minor maintenance. After, or during, the time of the works for Preventive
minor Maintenance, if is necessary, there will be made supporting documentation for required major
preventive maintenance actions.
Level 3: Major Maintenance, is a Conditioned Based Maintenance, and Level 4: Overhaul is

considered as a Reliability Centred Maintenance action.
The schedules of preventive maintenance are correlated with the:
Investment programs (programs for rehabilitation of substations and important equipment).

Annual outage plan (includes the total outage schedule for the whole year of equipment and
facilities requiring maintenance and investment activities).
The main question is: Refurbishment or Replacement?
A diagram to answer this question can be found in Figure 7.2-2.
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FIGURE 7.2-2 STAGES FOR CHOOSING THE OPTION OF MAINTENANCE/REPLACEMENT
The Maintenance Assurance Program (MAP) is designed for:
Long term perspective: 10 years.

Medium term perspective: 3 years.
Short term: 1 year.
Monitoring of the facilities operational behaviours is systematically made and consists of collection,
recording, validation, storage, taking over and forwarding the information on operation, maintenance
and repair of power grid faculties, equipment and their component parts.
The system of checking the maintenance results consists in monitoring the operational behaviour of
facilities, before and after carrying out the maintenance work.
The history of the maintenance work and of the operation behaviour points out the equipment
operational trends, weaknesses, improvement needs.
The contracts concluded with maintenance services suppliers include provisions on their adhering to
the requirements of the Maintenance Assurance Program.
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7.3. Savings through Time-based and Predictive Maintenance

7.3.1. Savings through Optimisation of TBM
This utility has about 2 million customers, 11,000 MW of installed generation, 4,500 km of
transmission lines and approx. 160 substations, at voltages ranging from 400 kV, down to distribution
voltages.
Every regional substation unit has 3 different teams:
o General Maintenance Team

o Protection and Control equipment Team
o Specialised Team for Predictive Maintenance
Their maintenance policy for AIS equipment is based upon a combination of two strategies:
Time Based Maintenance: Each piece of main equipment has its own work order every 3
years. The work order is generation by commercial ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
maintenance software. The same is also true for secondary equipment, such as protection
systems, control and command systems. Predictive Maintenance: Twice a year a special
team conducts an online survey on all main equipment and on auxiliary equipment such as
batteries, chargers and etc.
Currently the utility is considering applying some more strategies like RCM, Risk management and
global asset management policy. The utility examines every equipment item, looking at the history of
its behaviour. If it is seen that it has operated normally consideration is given to adjust the check list or
enlarge the time intervals.
The utility also has special teams for predictive maintenance. These teams have the permission to
recommend to delay a treatment or to make the maintenance immediate/urgent.
If a decision is made that some type of equipment (usually old) is suffering from a lot of problems or
something has a systematic fault pattern, then a meeting is set with experts including financial
personal to decide if it is better to start a programme of replacements.
See chapter 9 for further guidance on management of maintenance standards.
7.3.2. Savings through use of a Combination of TBM & CBM

This example comes from a South Asian utility. This utility uses preventive maintenance methodology
which incorporates two main strategies that are time-based maintenance (TBM) and condition-based
maintenance (CBM).
TIME-BASED MAINTENANCE
Prior to operation, the utility assesses all equipment in the system in order to determine the optimal
long-term maintenance plan that details a work list and a time schedule for each equipment item.
Equipment of similar conditions or designs is grouped together for the same maintenance procedure.
The maintenance procedure is based on both recommendations from the OEM and the past
experiences recorded in the failure rate database of each equipment model. Special maintenance
procedures will be consequently devised for an equipment model with a high failure rate.
CONDITION-BASED MAINTENANCE
The utility currently uses an off-line condition-based maintenance that yields several benefits. The
specific off-line test will be determined by the operational application. For instance, equipment with
high-frequency operation such as circuit breakers and switching devices for shunt capacitor banks are
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tested on an annual basis while transmission line equipment are tested every six year. The test
criteria are contact resistance, timing, motion, dynamic contact resistance, gas quality, insulation
resistance, thermo-vision, etc. It must be assured that the test results meet these criteria standards. In
the case that the results are below standards, corrective maintenance will be instantly applied. For
that utility system, the excellent example of condition-based maintenance is dissolved gas analysis
(DGA) of transformer oil.
For some equipment, it is preferable to use both time- and condition-based maintenance methods.
For example, the maintenance of switchgear equipment consists of three procedures as follows:
Periodic inspection on a monthly or yearly basis.

Periodic testing on every year or every six year.
Overhaul maintenance on every 12-18 years or depending on the frequency or load of
operation.
PRIORITY-BASED MAINTENANCE
In employing the time-based maintenance procedure, planning and forecasting of the maintenance
load can vary substantially each year while another factor to be considered is the limited number of
maintenance officers. Hence, a priority basis is recommended to complement the time-based
maintenance by emphasising the equipment with the highest failure rate or the equipment that might
have an extensive impact on the whole system in case of faults while less important equipment could
be delayed.
The utility currently uses a priority-based maintenance plan for circuit breakers due to its large
availability in the system and limited maintenance manpower. The priority-based maintenance plan for
circuit breakers is based on four aspects as follows:
High failure rate.

High impact to the system (in terms of the outage cost).
Operation limitation (in terms of fault interruption and mechanics).
Ageing limitation.
EXAMPLE OF PRIORITY-BASED MAINTENANCE FOR CB

In devising a priority-based maintenance plan, the number of circuit breakers that meet the criteria of
time-based maintenance such as aging and the number of applications will be listed four years in
advance as shown in Figure 7.3-1:
FIGURE 7.3-1 EQUALISED NUMBER OF CBS HAVING TO BE MAINTAINED EACH YEAR BASED ON PRIORITY
MAINTENANCE
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From this figure, it is obvious that the number of circuit breakers (more than 700) having to be
maintained in 2014 is much higher than other years. However, the utility is not able to maintain such
large amount of CBs in 2014 due to limited maintenance resources. As a result, the priority
maintenance plan is opted instead to suit the variable number of maintenance units in each year. The
number of circuit breakers having to be maintained has been equalised in each years plan based on
priority as shown in Figure 7.3-1. It can be seen from this that the overhauls of the interrupter units
have been removed (with one exception) based on acceptable risk assessments.
7.4. Saving through Optimised Maintenance Policy

7.4.1. Introduction
In this example from a European utility, all the equipment in the transmission network is subject to
degradation mechanisms due to operating and/or environmental conditions such as wear, fatigue,
ageing, and various physical and chemical alterations, which cause failures.
In the current context of the markets, however, the company must boost its performance, particularly
with regard to the operational life, reliability, safety and availability of the assets, taking into account
the economic context, i.e. by getting costs under control, both direct (for intervention, repair etc.) and
indirect (for loss or unavailability of a facility, company image, etc.). Also resources need to be made
available for the new tasks related to the future grid implementation.
Accordingly, the maintenance policy to be implemented must consider several maintenance strategies
adapted to the technical and economic stakes.
They could, for instance, wait for equipment failure and then proceed to corrective maintenance, but
in this scenario consequences of breakdowns are not avoided. A more defensive attitude consists of
implementing preventing maintenance to prevent or limit such failures, but then they run the risk of
excessive expenses and useless downtimes.
It is obvious that the optimal between both solutions need to be found and implemented.
Costs
Accumulated costs
Minimum
Optimal
Indirect costs
Direct costs
Kind of maintenance (Costs)

Too High Optimal Too low
FIGURE 7.4-1 OPTIMISATION OF MAINTENANCE APPLICATION
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7.4.2. Maintenance Policy

CONSTRAINTS
The current maintenance strategy applied is the time based maintenance (TBM). TBM is a heritage of
the past. This kind of maintenance is well adapted to grids with relatively low level of risks as it was
the case in the earlier years. Assets are all maintained the same way over their lifetime.
However, a large amount of assets are ageing. It means that grid related risks are also increasing.
The ideal solution would be the replacement of all the risky assets. But this is not possible from a
CAPEX and resource point of view.
The solution that was adopted is the replacement of the most risky assets and an adapted
maintenance policy for the others based on their risk level.
Secondly, they have on the one hand the old equipment requiring more maintenance and on the other
hand new equipment whose technology requires less maintenance. This constraint forces the utility to
review its maintenance policy and work methods.
PRINCIPLES
This chapter analyses the impact over ten years of the new concepts introduced into the policy for the
preventive maintenance of HV equipment, namely:
The frequency with which maintenance is performed. The maintenance intervals will no longer
be fixed for a particular type of equipment but will instead vary depending on its age, and
relative position on its failure curve, so that maintenance requirements generated reflect as
accurately as possible the equipments actual requirements.
FIGURE 7.4-2 ADJUSTMENT OF MAINTENANCE INTERVAL WITH RESPECT TO ASSET LIFE CYCLE
The maintenance intervals will no longer be determined solely on the basis of the condition of
the equipment (technical aspects) but also on the importance of the substation in the grid
(non-technical aspects). Risk Based Maintenance (RBM) will therefore replace Time Based
Maintenance (TBM).
Maintenance requirements will be determined on the basis of the equipment: the right
maintenance in the right place at the right time. This will ensure that within a bay, only the
required maintenance is carried out. Nevertheless, to ensure that all work carried out is as
effective as possible; the concept of a work window has been introduced, whereby a
minimum and maximum work interval is determined for each type of equipment. This enables
the various maintenance requirements for each piece of equipment to be combined/grouped
together during the same intervention in order to limit the number of outages and as a result
the workload of the related switching operations.
The following rules apply when calculating how maintenance works should be grouped together:
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The moment at which works are carried out on each group need to be set such that the gaps
between the group maintenance date and the recommended dates for maintenance on each
individual piece of equipment are as short as possible.
The moment at which works are carried out on each group need to be set such that the date
pertaining to a particular group is not later than the deadline date for any piece individual of
equipment.
The moment at which works are carried out on each group need to be set such that the
number of hours required for each set of works is a multiple of one man-day.
The moment at which works are carried out on each group need to be set such that the
number of outages is kept to a minimum.
FIGURE 7.4-3 IDENTIFICATION OF INTERSECTION OF REQUIRED MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES FOR RELATED

EQUIPMENT
We will analyse the following scenarios:
Scenario 0: All bay maintenance requirements are generated on basis of the maintenance
intervals for the circuit breaker.
Scenario 1: All bay maintenance and overhaul requirements are generated on the basis of the
new maintenance intervals for circuit-breakers (bathtub curve).
Scenario 2: All bay maintenance and overhaul requirements are generated on the basis of the
new maintenance intervals for circuit-breakers (bathtub curve) and the importance of the
substation.
Scenario 3: The maintenance requirements for each piece of equipment in the bay are generated
on the basis of their own individual maintenance intervals (determined on the basis of the bathtub
curve and the importance of the substation), and only necessary maintenance is carried out (TO
BE situation).
Comparing the new maintenance approach against the existing one essentially is given by comparing
scenarios 3 and 0; scenarios 1 and 2 assess the impact of each new concept individually.
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IMPACT OF THE NEW HV EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE POLICY

TABLE 7.4-1 SIMULATION FOR BAYS & TRANSFORMERS (10 YEARS)
Simulation Bays & Transformers (10 years)
# maintenance requirements with outage %
Scenario 0 AS IS 100 %
Scenario 1 TO BE - Bathtub curve @ DV trigger 77 %
Scenario 2 TO BE - Bathtub curve + Importance @ DV trigger 79 %
Scenario 3 TO BE 83 %
Workload %
# outages days %
An analysis of the findings reveals that the new maintenance policy (scenario 3) will give rise to a
substantial gain (approx. 16%) in relation to the previous one (scenario 0), both in terms of outage
requirements and the number of outage days and last but not least also 16% in workload.
This gain is derived primarily from introducing the bathtub-curve concept. Scenario 1 offers a gain of
approximately 22 % compared with scenario 0 in terms of the three components: maintenance
requirements, number of outage days and workload. In technical terms, the gain is derived from the
reduction in the frequency with which maintenance is required during the equipments useful life. This
gain is obtained as a result of applying the new policy on bays where important replacements projects
have been carried out in the last 10 years.
This gain is partially offset by the introduction of the concept of bay importance. The gains recorded in
scenario 2 in terms of maintenance requirements remain virtually the same (approximately 21%) but
those in terms of workload and number of outage days are only approximately 17%. From a technical
point of view, the gain is lower due to the increased frequency of maintenance at the most critical
substations.
The gain is also counterbalanced by the policy being applied to the equipment rather than the bay.
The figures in terms of maintenance requirements drop from 21% in scenario 2 to approximately 17 %
in scenario 3. The figures for the number of outage days and workload remain virtually the same.
From a technical point of view, identifying the maintenance requirements for each piece of equipment
will highlight any requirements not identified at the time only the circuit-breaker was being considered.
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7.4.3. Conclusion
The following conclusions can be drawn from this analysis:
Under the new policy, risks in relation to ageing assets will be managed more effectively.
Under the new policy, risks in relation to new assets will be managed more effectively via
conducting specific inspections after commissioning and during the guarantee period => OPEX
shifts to manufacturer in the event of a problem.
The positive impact of the maintenance policy in this study case is depending primarily on past
and future HV equipment replacement investments. Where less investment has been done in the
past or is foreseen for the future, the risk exists that significantly more maintenance will be
required due to assets ageing and therefore requiring more frequent maintenance.
7.5. Savings through Reliability-Centred Maintenance

This example comes from a large (roughly 3,000 substations ranging from 63 kV up to 400 kV)
European TSO whose strategy is currently mainly based on Reliability-Centred Maintenance. This
overall strategy has been deployed in the early 90s after using classical Time-Based Maintenance.
This RCM strategy and the associated time schedule for maintenance tasks is based on the thorough
analysis of the several FMECA studies conducted for all HV equipment installed in its substations. In
parallel to this RCM, this TSO made a classification of its substations into two categories: strategic
substation (usually 400 kV substation or 225 kV feeding a distribution zone or substation connecting
another grid) and nominal substation based in this principle regarding its feeders:
FIGURE 7.5-1 SUBSTATION CLASSIFICATION
The main difference between those two types of substation is the time interval for RCM maintenance
tasks whose frequency is, to put it roughly, twice as frequent for strategic substations. It has to be
noted that initially this TSO created three levels of substation (strategic, standard and light standard)
but after 6 years it was decided to keep only two of them (strategic and standard which in fact is
based on light standard) in order to make savings in man-hours while still guaranteeing the same
reliability and efficiency for maintenance.
The several maintenance tasks used in the overall maintenance strategy can be summarised as
shown in Figure 7.5-2.
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FIGURE 7.5-2 AIS MAINTENANCE ORGANISATION (PREVENTIVE AND CORRECTIVE)
The specific tasks composing the RCM preventive maintenance are categorised into 5 main
categories as shown in Figure 7.5-3.
FIGURE 7.5-3 RCM CATEGORIES AND ASSOCIATED ACTIONS
An important fact to note is that this TSO has set periodic operating tests (open/close of switchgear
without impact on the grid in case of failure). These are undertaken by the grid dispatchers and are to
prevent/anticipate mechanical incidents (motor faults, loose bolts, etc.). This has resulted in a
significant increase in related equipment reliability with a limited impact on man-hours.
The overall figures of this RCM strategy after 15 years are shown in Figure 7.5-4 to Figure 7.5-7.
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FIGURE 7.5-4 NUMBER OF MAINTENANCE TASKS FIGURE 7.5-5 - MAN-HOURS
FIGURE 7.5-6 FAULT DETECTIONS (RCM VS FIGURE 7.5-7 RCM FAULT DETECTION ORIGIN
CORRECTIVE)
An important conclusion based on those statistics is that patrols are really as efficient as they are cost
effective. Only 20% of the RCM man-hours are required yet they detect almost 50% of the faults that
are detected during preventive maintenance. Figure 7.5-6 shows that the preventive RCM strategy is
globally efficient as it permits to prevent 2/3 of the faults before they happen during operation and
thus limiting non-supplied energy. The reader should note that only 5% of faults detected during
operation (corrective maintenance), would lead to non-supplied energy due to the grid structure (N-1
rule and grid code).
A key factor to support this efficient maintenance strategy is to be able to rely on an efficient IT
system both for planning maintenance tasks and for keeping records of faults so that a correct
feedback loop exist. This IT system allowed this TSO to set in place adequate key performance
indicators to monitor its maintenance strategy through the day-to-day deployment of RCM
(percentage maintenance tasks done and percentage of man-hours done compared to planned time
based activities).
This RCM strategy is efficient based on the statistics shown above but optimisation can still be
achieved especially when looking as these figures:
TABLE 7.5-1 400 kV network unavailability (substations, cables, overhead lines)
% over a year
Unplanned unavailability: fault during operation 0,1%
Planned unavailability: maintenance 1,8%
The overall availability of the 400 kV network is very satisfying (98,1%) but the planned unavailability
required for maintenance is almost 20 times the unavailability caused by outages during operation.
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This is clearly the sign that optimisation regarding maintenance strategy can still be achieved. This
TSO is currently looking to change this 100% RCM with an increasing part for Condition Based
Maintenance. This would use monitoring (online/offline) for specific HV equipment where that makes
sense and to optimise the existing tasks using innovative procedures (limit the outage using live work,
suppress superficial tasks, and increase time intervals where relevant).
The example is in line with the findings of our questionnaire (see chapter 5, Figure 5.8-1 ) where
many utilities have indicated the criteria for tasks should be based on regular condition assessments
and operational duty.
7.6. Savings through Bundling Maintenance

This example is from an Australian utility.
In 2009 the utility implemented a new regime of maintenance for most of its substations, known as
Bundled Maintenance: a time based maintenance practice for transmission primary and secondary
substation assets. The objectives were to reduce the number of outages and cost of maintenance.
The practice involved establishing a five yearly maintenance plan to carry out optimum number of
tasks with optimum number of outages, through improving up-front planning, visibility of plant
requirements per site, and mitigating risk of cancelled outages.
Requirements included:
Five yearly maintenance schedules.

Annual Maintenance calendar.
Site execution of work.
Condition Monitoring.
This involved packaging the tasks with similar requirements (such as isolation points, resources,
skills, tools, machinery, etc.) and a sequential execution of the packages to optimise outage requests
and resource utilisation.
This lead to development of an annual maintenance calendar reflecting the optimum maintenance
window, per substation, considering the lowest risk of outage cancellation, accessibility of the site,
type of substation (indoor or outdoor) and location of the substation (urban or rural).
The focus of the proposed 5-yr plan was to maintain the system stability and levelling of resources
while improving the cost efficiency in doing the works and maximising the utilisation of every outage.
Along the process, the following challenges were identified:
Balancing volumetric distribution each year.

Balancing geographical location of works.
Balancing distribution of zones and terminal substations.
Potential delay in maintenance on several primary plants due to alignment of works. This
posed a risk with regards to equipment reliability.
Need for control measures to mitigate the identified risks.
7.6.1. Substation Packaging

Packaging the list of substations for each year was methodically processed using the following steps:
Step 1. Identify all substations that are potential candidate for Bundled maintenance through
consultation with stakeholders.
Step 2. Populate the Maintenance Scheduled Tasks (MSTs) that are attached to primary and
secondary equipment in each substations.
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Step 3. Identify the maintenance frequency of each plant. All primary plant equipment whose
maintenance regimes are on 4 yearly and 6 yearly cycles were adjusted to 5 yearly.
Step 4. Populate the yearly list of substations and number of primary plant based on the below
packaging criteria.
Step 5. Balance the list to meet the levelling of resources and fair distribution of substation sites
according to geographical location, number of equipment and balance combination of
zone and terminal substations.
7.6.2. The Packaging Criteria

Grouping the list of substations to undergo Bundled maintenance each year was based on the
following criteria:
Number of transformer MSTs to trigger on the same year.

Number of circuit breaker MSTs to trigger on the same year.
Number of other primary plant MSTs to trigger on the same year.
Maximum acceptable risk level.
7.6.3. Risk Assessment

The maximum acceptable risk levels based on historical delay and operational characteristics of the
plant were the following:
No transformer maintenance was to be delayed by more than two years.

No SF6 circuit breaker maintenance was to be delayed by more than two years.
No oil and air circuit breaker maintenance were to be delayed by more than one year.
To mitigate the risks associated with operational reliability of oil and air circuit breakers, these plants
were subjected to half-cycle maintenance (every 2 years).
Power transformers and other primary plant equipment were also subjected to regular condition
monitoring such as DGA analysis, thermographic survey and intensified monthly substation
inspection. Any condition requiring immediate action would not wait for the next Bundled maintenance
cycle.
7.6.4. Bundled Maintenance vs. Conventional Maintenance

For each substation, the maintenance tasks were cross-checked and packaged with repair and asset
replacement activities where possible. Requiring only one visit of the substation and much fewer
outage requests in a 5-year period. The end-to-end duration of site work marked a significant average
reduction in outage requests and saving through better resource utilisation.
To evaluate performance of Bundled Maintenance practice, and to uncover its strengths and
weaknesses, the practice was evaluated after implementation in the first three pilot substations.
The table below shows the statistics of Bundled Maintenance vs. Conventional Method in these three
substations. The performance of Bundled Maintenance was measured on Percentage Reduction in
Outage Requests and Percentage Saving on Execution Cost. For instance, at Substation A, 57
preventive maintenance tasks, 15 corrective tasks and 12 asset replacement tasks were performed
during four weeks of work under Bundled Maintenance practice, resulting in 84% reduction in outage
requests and 21% saving on total execution cost.
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TABLE 7.6-1 COMPARISON OF BUNDLED MAINTENANCE PRACTICE VS. CONVENTIONAL PRACTICE IN THREE
PILOT SUBSTATIONS.
Conventional
Number Method Bundled Reduction
Number of OPEX Comparison
of (standard Maintenance in
Substation Tasks jobs)
CAPEX Outages
Tasks Outages (from (%) % Saving
Outages
Preventive Corrective Experience) Cost
A 57 15 12 55 9 84% 21%
B 13 4 0 6 4 33% 1%
C 40 11 9 37 10 73% 21%
Bundled Maintenance raised a number of concerns, including three major ones as follows:
Risks associated with change in maintenance frequencies and deferred maintenance.

Lack of skills and required training with regards to the new process.
Poor communication in planning and execution of work.
These concerns were investigated and appropriate solutions were identified and implemented.
Step 1. Financial Benefits

The key success factor for Bundled Maintenance was the financial benefits for the business. This
had to be captured and demonstrated once the work had been performed on pilot sites.
Comparison of actual costs versus would be costs in three sites had to serve as the proof that
the new practice would yield financial benefits for the utility commensurate to the size and
importance of the initiative.
Measurable costs mainly included labour, fleet and equipment costs, with the cost of material
being fixed for both Bundled and Conventional maintenance. A detailed analysis was carried out
revealing that while in some substations cost savings amounted to above 20%, in others this
saving was considerably lower and in one case only 1%. This demonstrated that the new practice
could not be applied as a blanket rule to all substations. Other financial benefits resulted from
prolonged maintenance frequencies, which would have an effect on the OPEX costs in future
years. Economic analysis performed to capture this effect demonstrated a marked saving over the
20 years of OPEX cost for maintenance of the plant involved.
Step 2. Manpower Utilisation

Bundled Maintenance also improved resource and equipment utilisation through advanced
planning of work, which yielded a more balanced work flow compared with conventional practice.
Step 3. Reducing Backlog

Bundled Maintenance improved the total number of outstanding work through improved resource
utilisation as well as cost saving and outage minimisation.
The example is in line with the findings of our questionnaire (see section 5.12.6) saving through
grouping of equipment for maintenance and replacement.
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7.7. Savings through Modelling Maintenance Cost (Activity Based

Costing)
The following case study discusses the necessity to understand where costs are and how information
can lead to potential areas of saving.
Maintenance optimisation and savings could only be realistically achieved once the utility is aware of
what elements are predominantly driving maintenance costs. An acute awareness of costs and the
modelling thereof can unlock substantial cost savings potential and exceed expectations with regard
to the reduction of unnecessary cost components. The establishment of an activity based costing
model simply combines the resources, network assets and data within the Computerised Maintenance
Management System (CMMS) with the regulatory chart of accounts by which the utility establishes its
financial statements.
7.7.1. A Simple Activity Based Costing (ABC) Model for

Maintenance
A lack of measurement results in a lack of management. An activity based costing model requires that
all operational expenditure directed toward the field operations and maintenance element within a
utility is accounted for and segregated into clearly delineated fields as follows:
Labour all internal personnel costs. Labour is segregated into direct hour based costs and
indirect hour based costs which are split into travel and waiting time. Overtime activities are
also captured within this element of the model. Labour is usually expressed as a unit rate per
work hour or part thereof;
Tools all tools including fleet, usually expressed in unit rates;
Materials all materials consumed during the course of maintenance and operational
activities;
Contracts all costs associated to the works undertaken by external contractors (this includes
the outsourcing of maintenance works);
Other costs that cannot be aligned to any of the above for example procurement of energy
for substation auxiliaries.
All costs as delineated above can be further broken into another dimension of type of activity as
follows:
Preventative maintenance;
Repairs or Corrective maintenance including restoration following forced outages;
Operations all non-CAPEX activities primarily requiring operations such as switching
networks to enable access for third parties;
Modifications works which are carried out for the purpose of modification or rehabilitation of
assets;
Commissioning/Project Works this includes all commissioning and switching or works
specifically related to projects affecting the networks; and
Other usually a bin for work elements that cannot be allocated to the above.
All works are captured against each asset or family grouping of assets to the filters above within the
CMMS. For example, a routine monthly substation inspection which may require replenishment of
silica gel within the transformer breathers would be captured as a preventative maintenance activity
with:
a labour component in hours per person (direct/indirect and overtime if necessary);

tools including vehicle usage on a unit rate basis;
materials (if any) consumed during the activity.
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The above is captured against the whole asset family representing the specific substation inspected.
It is well known that many utilities struggle with the implementation of ABC Model capture for various
reasons. It has been well proven that such a system enables utilities to more accurately forecast
resource requirements.. If electricity utilities are driven toward a greater degree of cost accountability
then it is in their best interests to implement an ABC Model to track maintenance activity.
7.7.2. The ABC Model enabling savings of Maintenance Costs

Robust Activity Based Costing models (ABC) which are ruthlessly applied provide substantial insight
into the assignment of resources as well as cost drivers down to asset families as well as individual
assets themselves. These models afford a greater degree of certainty in terms of long-term
forecasting of resources as well as provide a good means to identify activities that are viable for
outsourced activities. For an ABC model to serve the electricity utility well it must be captured in a
timely manner to a high degree of accuracy as part of the data management activities during
maintenance works execution. Even within the first few years of consistent data capture, the following
actions could be implemented to generate significant savings as well as correct allocation of cost to
both OPEX and CAPEX:
All capital works could easily be segregated within the model to reflect more accurately
regulated OPEX and CAPEX. A case study within a well-developed network within the Middle
East, as much as 40% of the maintenance workforce costs were being sunk into
commissioning works and switching works to support the connection of major network
development projects. The accurate capture of costs led to a substantial amount of costs
being retrospectively capitalised and realising a significant reduction in OPEX the model
serves to avoid loss of capital cost through justified cost allocation;
The accurate capture of data enables Operations and Asset Managers a high degree of
visibility with regard to resource allocation and empowers better decision making with respect
to mobilisation of resources for the purpose of maintenance. In the same case study within
the Middle East, over a period of 5 years between 2010 and 2015, the average resource
assignment level was driven from 65% to 94% for all personnel including senior management.
A large proportion of the increase in assignment levels was driven through simple productivity
measures established within the CMMS through establishing time based targets for works
execution against robust work/job plans the maintenance division was able to progressively
improve productivity through the reduction of time wastage on routine works. This model is
easily transferable to corrective works that are repetitive in nature leaving only significant
unplanned activities without time measures;
Accurate ABC models captured over several years provide significant visibility to enable
innovative approaches in conducting maintenance. In the case study within the Middle East, it
was found that considerable cost savings could be generated by re-proportioning working
crews to conduct maintenance on a bay basis as opposed to an individual asset basis
namely, combining the switchgear, transformer and secondary systems crews into a team to
tackle an entire bay yielded significant savings as well as a much higher utilisation rate of
personnel. In addition to this, the net gain in outage reduction led to a marginal increase in
network availability.
The ABC model provides visibility to enterprising Asset Managers to consider outsourcing of
elements of the maintenance programme with the ability to test the application. In the Middle
East, it was found that facilities management of substations required a substantial workforce
over a wide geography. In addition, the workforce was found to be underutilised despite the
facilities being essential to the health of the network assets. A candidate region was identified
for a trial and a successful contractor was offered the opportunity to perform preventative and
corrective maintenance on a performance basis. This led to a progressive outsourcing of
activities to building services contractors who had established a strong geographic presence
servicing commercial and industrial facilities with similar needs. It was found after 5 years that
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the electricity utility was generating a significant savings over a traditional model of internal
resource provision along with an improving asset health index for support services;
An ABC model provides a simple means to identify outliers in terms of cost and effort. It
provides a basis for comparison between similar assets and affords an Asset Performance
Manager the opportunity to research cost drivers. The case identified within the Middle East
found that it was more cost effective to commence the progressive replacement substation
DC systems over an extended period as opposed to continuing labour intensive maintenance
of obsolete systems within the network this was evidenced by the consumption of labour on
simple cleaning and replenishment activities;
An ABC Model enables more accurate forecasting of costs for electricity networks. The more
historical data that is captured, the more certainty exists over extrapolating costs into the
future. In the Middle East, the network planning forecasts were regulated to forecast as far
ahead as 7 years, namely the 7 year planning statement. Following capture of itemised
maintenance costs over several years, it was possible to extrapolate the likely costs for a term
of at least 5 years into the future by integrating the ongoing maintenance costs with the
forecast network expansion (and retirement). This enabled a steady cost forecast that met
regulatory expectations and minimised corporate risk.
The ABC Model provides visibility for menial tasks that consume substantial resource time. In
the Middle East case, it was found that for a transmission utility with in excess of 100
substations that the management of paper-based data entry accounted for over 25,000 man
hours data capture is a very expensive undertaking and should not be underestimated.
Implementation of a field mobility solution which eliminated the need to capture asset
condition/status on a paper based format could recover as much as 20,000 man hours during
a maintenance season. The implementation of a field mobility solution could yield as much as
12 additional personnel this business case, generated from the ABC Model resulted in
offsetting additional resource requirements for nearly 3 years despite there being significant
asset growth over the same period;
A well organised ABC Model provides for ease of benchmarking. When conducting benchmarking
exercises, accurate data over several seasons provides for a clear set of benchmark figures.
7.8. Savings through Outsourcing

In Chapter 3 several solutions to maintenance management that include an extent of outsourcing
were introduced. These included:
A wholly owned subsidiary company responsible for asset work.

An independently owned service provider on a fixed term contract.
Utilities that have either no in-house resource or expertise to perform the asset care tasks, or
have lost the expertise.
Some are based in countries with an active market in providing these services. There needs
to be at least three potential compliant bidders who could bid for each contract to enable
competitive bidding.
7.8.1. Wholly Owned Subsidiaries

This model was more popular with government owned utilities, particularly in Eastern Europe.
(a) Ireland
In 1976 the Irish Utility set up a separate wholly owned company with its generation and
transmission engineering expertise. This allowed the utility to expand and sell these services to
other utilities around the globe. Since then this model has been used very effectively with
significant expansion over this period. This model allows the utility to maximise efficient use of
resources leveraging in house experience on both national and international projects.
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This model enables the utility to use resources more effectively and ensure that expert
knowledge is retained within the organisation for use on utility assets when required.
(b) Eastern Europe
Several companies adopted this model. In one the wholly owned subsidiary was bought after a
few years by a major OEM
(c) Belgium- (from TB 607 (3))

In 2001 an independent Belgian system operator for the majority of the 30 kV380 kV
transmission system was created from the former transmission system department of the fully
integrated electrical utility. Their experience, developed through the evolution of various models
for managing their maintenance activity was described in TB 607.
In 2001 the business model implemented involved an infrastructure manager (asset owner) and
an internally owned service provider who undertook non-core activities in an outsourcing model.
Whilst the roles and responsibilities of all the stakeholders were clearly defined but a lot of effort
was lost in dealing with the contracts, SLAs and KPIs between the business units. This led on
several occasions to sub optimal decisions and an increasing distance between the asset owner
and the field with even issues on knowledge management. This model was also used in UK and
likewise abandoned in favour of a more integrated service provider, again due to issues reported
by the Belgium system operator here.
During this period, outsourcing was re-evaluated. The major drive was to maintain the core
competences inside the company in order to be able to deal with the long and mid-term issues.
In 2004 the TSO insourced the project studies, planning & execution by acquiring a service
provider as part of the overall group. FAT witnessing was, however, outsourced to an external
partner.
In 2006 the asset manager and service provider model was abandoned in order to develop a
more integrated asset management for the existing assets in order to face the challenges of the
aging network. Further improvement of the efficiency led to the merger of the expertise for new
assets and existing assets into one department by the end of 2008. Now, only one asset
manager deals with the total life cycle of the asset. At this time the factory audits during
equipment qualification process and GIS FAT witnessing was outsourced additionally.
To conclude, the Belgian TSOs are convinced that they have found a good balance between in
and outsourcing of tasks with the major drive to manage the company risk by maintaining the
core knowledge within the company.
7.8.2. Wholly Independent Service Provider

In this situation the utility is essentially a system operator and all asset care is outsourced.
(a) Finland (see TB 607)

The Finnish system has 14,400 km of mainly overhead line and 113 air insulated substations, at
voltages of 400, 220 and 110 kV. The TSO turnover was 438M in 2011. It now manages all
maintenance, operations and telecommunications through outsourcing and an internal staff of
only 248.
The transition from all work being undertaken externally was not a revolution but an evolution.
Prior to 1995 the power companies were vertically integrated. The Electricity Market Act came
into force in 1995 and the TSO formed. Contracting for maintenance work began in 1989, but
limited to internal activities. Bidding and including external providers began in 1992 and it was
then that cost savings were achieved. In 2001 Operations and Telecommunications activities
were outsourced, and by that time a more established bidding and contracting process was in
place. This left the internal staff to focus their expertise on planning, work definition,
procurement, supervision, analysis and development. Their relationships with contractors have
so far been through open and fair relationships, a partnering. Success is achieved through
effective tools for data management, operated by the TSO and contractors through an extranet.
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Quality is managed through benchmarking and the use of key performance indicators. Good or
bad performances are identified and rewarded or penalised.
(b) Australasia, Middle East and South Africa

There are several case studies globally where outsourced contracting for the execution of
maintenance works has yielded better management of maintenance costs and reduced the risk
borne by utilities with regard to asset condition. The text for this section has been established
from cases undertaken in Australasia, the Middle East and Southern Africa.
Many utilities cover large geographical areas. Those that cover large geographic areas often find
it very difficult to justify the retention of decentralised resources to enable effective coverage of
the area. These utilities lend themselves well to outsourcing of maintenance activities. This driver
is particularly evident in Australasia where it becomes very difficult to justify the retention of a
critical mass of vocational skills covering a very wide geography. It becomes far simpler for a
contract service provider to mobilise a basket of vocational skills to conduct maintenance
required by the host electricity network operator. For many cases these contractors provide
similar services for private networks of mining and industrial customers being serviced by the
electricity networks.
Electricity networks that are experiencing substantial growth over short periods of time further
lend themselves well toward outsourced models of service provision for both the delivery of
capital works as well as routine maintenance. Capital Projects in the Middle East were trending
toward the provision of routine maintenance as a capital component by the EPC contractor for a
period of between 20 and 40 years. This provided benefits through capitalisation of maintenance
works (where the regulatory regime favoured capital expenditure over operational expenditure =
opportunities for greater regulated returns) as well as commitment from contractors to provide
assets that met a full economic life-cycle with the downside being accounted for by the
contractor. The field operations and maintenance personnel were directed toward managing
operations which is the sole preserve for the network operator.
In Australasia and the Middle East, the cornerstone of all maintenance regimes is the application
of routine (time based) non-intrusive inspection and diagnostics on equipment both online and
offline. This activity leads to the condition based offline intervention on equipment to restore
specified condition for safe and reliable operation. The approach has proven sustainable in the
pursuit of a defensible Asset Management Plan. In most cases, contract entities are easily
enabled to conduct the inspection elements on behalf of a network operator and there is a
growing trend towards the outsourced entity being able to execute the offline works required to
restore the health of the asset. Many contractors have developed and acquired highly skilled
personnel to enable these activities. In many respects, where utilities have not necessarily
preserved their internal resource competency, contractors often possess much higher skill sets
that lend themselves well to conducting the works cost effectively. There is a growing trend
towards large electricity equipment manufacturers establishing their own effective asset
management capability and then offering this as a downstream value adding mechanism through
the provision of new assets. There is strong evidence of this in many cases across the Middle
East including Kuwait, Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia where networks are relatively new and
extremely robustly engineered.
Experience has shown that migration toward an outsourced model is a two-sided consideration,
namely for it to be successful, a pool of competent contractors must exist or be developed to
service the needs of the electricity utility. Success is born through both parties being competent
for their scope of work. As a basis, the electricity utility requires:
A well-established asset register along with mature asset management policy, strategy
and asset plans;
Robust asset management processes which are well documented and simple to follow.
this extends to the maintenance planning and execution processes;
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A well organized and accurate computerised maintenance management system which

enables ease of access for both contractor and network operator across well-established
interfaces;
Robust measures to track timeliness, cost and quality provided by the outsourced
contractor;
A robust contracting process which includes practical contract management facilities
which benefit both the utility as well as the contractor/s. The models of contract can differ
vastly from conventional network development and asset creation contracts. This is not
an EPC type environment and utilities are best advised to establish performance based
contracts with a high degree of partnering through sharing of the gains as well as any
downside that should occur. It is imperative that the contractor remains sustainable and
this sustainability directly impacts the operational sustainability of the utility;
The contractor/s requires:
A critical mass of resources to be able to perform all aspects of maintenance to a set

quality standard;
Relevant experience in conducting utility maintenance;
A sufficient footprint within the utilitys service area to enable response in a timely
manner;
There are several factors that must be taken into consideration for the success of outsourcing
maintenance works whether it is considered on a turn-key or selective basis as follows:
The personnel accountable within the electricity network provider must have an intimate
understanding of contract law, organisational policy and the management of contractors.
This usually requires re-training and skilling of vocational and engineering personnel who
will manage the work dispatch centre which provides oversight and point of contact for
the contractor;
The utility, shareholders and regulator must demonstrate a willingness to embrace the
concepts of outsourcing maintenance works all the way through to board level;
The maintenance activities identified for outsourcing must be clearly defined to the work
instruction level. This includes the minimum competencies required to undertake the
works. Often, following successful outsourcing, contractors assist the Asset Management
Department within the utility to update and improve job plans and work instructions;
The electricity utility must carefully assess the likelihood of displaced personnel and
either transfer to successful contractor under transfer arrangements or redistribute within
the core business ;
The utility must have completed an assessment of all competencies and assured itself of
the preservation of core skill sets within the operations environment to deal with
unforeseen events. In addition to this, contractors must be committed to support the
utility during unforeseen and emergency events and this should be documented in the
corporate risk management plans;
There must be a minimum number of 3 contractors that have demonstrated skill sets
required to conduct works to be opened to competitive tender. It has been proven that
retaining at least two contractors on a competitive basis could yield significantly positive
results whilst ensuring that the risk of being subject to a single contractor is minimised.
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8. REPLACE AND REFURBISH OPTIMISED DECISIONS

This chapter addresses a generalised process to evaluate whether to replace or refurbish assets. It
does not address the varying means to refurbish assets. For this the reader is directed to TB 300
Guidelines to an Optimised Approach to the Renewal of Existing Air Insulated Substations (43).
It has been noted from the results of the questionnaire that when faced with a decision to repair or
replace an asset, most decisions are in favour of replacement. There may also be strategic issues
which impact on this decision process, see section 5.4 for further discussion on this topic.
8.1. Introduction
The decision process for asset replacement is organised into ten steps, as described in the technical
brochure 486 Integral Decision Process for Substation Equipment Replacement which is shown in
Figure 8.1-1 (44).
FIGURE 8.1-1 TB 486 DECISION FLOWCHART (44)
At the process level, one of the steps (8) is to study alternatives for replacement. Indeed, in some
cases, it may be more advantageous to refurbish or modify the characteristics of an existing asset
than to replace it. In order to answer this question a complete economic analysis of the two scenarios
should be performed. This should evaluate the costs associated to modify or refurbish and the cost of
replacement. It is important to take the right decision. Indeed, an incorrect decision can significantly
impact on future equipment performance, maintenance and operating costs.
The purpose of this chapter is to define some guidelines on how to evaluate these options.
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The reader should consider that the business drivers presented as inputs for this process should be
aligned with those presented in chapter 3 relative to your specific business.
8.2. Identification of Alternatives

8.2.1. Principle
The choice between refurbishing and replacing takes place in two phases described below.
First the total cost of each scenario is calculated for the whole lifetime of the equipment. The following
costs are taken into account in order to define the total cost for both scenarios:
Replacement or refurbishment
Preventive maintenance
Curative maintenance (based on predicted performance)
Performance Health index (based on predicted performance)
Net book value
Second, for the refurbishment scenario, we calculate the replacement year (X) of the equipment that
gives a total cost equal to that from the replacement scenario.
These total costs are discounted taking into account the annuity, amortisation and the indexation.
FIGURE 8.2-1 CALCULATION OF THE YEAR AN ASSET MUST REMAIN VIABLE, FOLLOWING A REFURBISHMENT,
FOR THE REFURBISHMENT DECISION TO BE FINANCIALLY BENEFICIAL
Based on the theoretical end of life of the refurbished equipment, one of two scenarios can be
chosen. Indeed if the theoretical end of life is greater than the year X defined in the second phase of
the analysis, it is economically beneficial to refurbish the equipment and to postpone its replacement
until the year X or beyond.
EXAMPLE CIRCUIT BREAKER DECISION TO REFURBISH OR REPLACE

This example is based on a circuit breaker with a rated current of 3150 A and an operating
requirement for a rated current of 4000 A. An analysis will be completed to determine whether it is
more advantageous to perform an upgrade of the current circuit breakers or to replace them.
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TABLE 8.2-1 REFURBISHMENT COST
Material cost 63 units
Upgrade kit 3150 A 4000 A (Support for contact tube 4000 A, Contact tube 4000 A, Guide tube 55,5 units
3150 A-4000 A & Guide 4000 A):
SF6 tightness 7,5 units
Manpower 32 units
Complete disassembly, refurbish and installation of three poles 26 units
Complete disassembly, refurbish and installation of the driver 6 units
Transport 5 units
TOTAL 100 units
TABLE 8.2-2 REPLACEMENT COST
Material cost 100 units
Circuit breaker 4000 A (including transport) 100 units
Manpower 80 units
Complete disassembly of the old CB and installation of the new one 80 units
Decommissioning 15 units
Transport (old circuit breaker) 5 units
TOTAL 200 units
TABLE 8.2-3 MAINTENANCE COST
Old CB New CB
Preventive maintenance cost (k) 1 0,8
Preventive maintenance frequency (year) 3 5
TABLE 8.2-4 ECONOMIC PARAMETERS
Net book value old CB 2 units
Index 0,03
Annuity 0,06
Amortisation (year) 33
The initial step is to calculate the different scenarios (replacement and refurbishment):
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Replacement Scenario
The costs for the replacement in 2016 and maintenance costs of the circuit breaker are evaluated for
an estimated lifetime of 40 years. The maintenance costs are discounted to the year when the
replacement is made taking into account the annuity, amortisation and the indexation.
TABLE 8.2-5 REPLACEMENT SCENARIO
Replacement scenario
Maintenance
Replacement
Upgrade costs costs (every 5 yrs
costs
only)
2016 200
2021 0,69
2026 0,60
2031 0,52
2036 0,45
2041 0,39
2046 0,34
2051 0,29
2056 0,25
200 3,54
Total
204
Refurbishment Scenario
In this scenario, different calculations based on the year when the circuit breaker may be replaced
after being refurbished are taken into account. The cost of refurbishment and the maintenance costs
are calculated until the replacement of the circuit breaker. Then the costs for the replacement in year
X and maintenance costs of the new circuit breaker are evaluated. These total costs are discounted
to the year when the replacement is made in replacing scenario taking into account the annuity,
amortisation and the indexation for an estimated lifetime of 40 years.
a) Calculation 1: Refurbishment in 2016 and replacement in 2016 (worst case)

The circuit breaker is refurbished but unfortunately it must be replaced in the same year.
When the two scenarios are compared, it is clearly better to directly replace the circuit breaker.
TABLE 8.2-6 CALCULATION 1 REFURBISHMENT AND REPLACEMENT IN YEAR 1
Replacement scenario Refurbishment scenario

Maintenance Maintenance
Upgrade Replacement costs (every Upgrade Replacement costs (every
costs costs 5 years costs costs 3 years
only) only)
2016 200 100 200
2021 0,69 0,69
2026 0,60 0,60
2031 0,52 0,52
2036 0,45 0,45
2041 0,39 0,39
2046 0,34 0,34
2051 0,29 0,29
2056 0,25 0,25
200 3,54 100 200 3,54
Total
204 304
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Calculation 2: Refurbishment in 2016 and replacement in 2017
In this case, the circuit breaker is refurbished in 2016 but unfortunately it must be replaced the next
year.
When the two scenarios are compared, it can also be concluded that it is more beneficial to directly
replace the circuit breaker.
TABLE 8.2-7 CALCULATION 2 REFURBISHMENT AND REPLACEMENT IN YEAR 2

Maintenance Maintenance
Upgrade Replacement costs (every Upgrade Replacement costs (every
costs costs 5 years costs costs 5 years
only) only)
2016 200 100
2017 194
2021 0,69
2022 0,67
2026 0,60
2027 0,58
2031 0,52
2032 0,51
2036 0,45
2037 0,44
2041 0,39
2042 0,38
2046 0,34
2047 0,33
2051 0,29
2052 0,28
2056 0,25
200 3,54 100 194 3,19
Total
204 298
Based on the same principle, additional calculations are made by changing the year of replacement
the circuit breaker after refurbishment.
For a certain year, the costs of these scenarios are almost identical.
b) Calculation 3: Refurbishment in 2016 and replacement in 2041

In this case, refurbishing the circuit breaker in 2016 and replacing it in 2041.
When comparing the two scenarios, the costs of these scenarios are almost identical.
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TABLE 8.2-8 CALCULATION OF BREAK-EVEN YEAR FOR REPLACEMENT FOLLOWING REFURBISHMENT

Maintenance
costs(every
Maintenance
Upgrade Replacement Upgrade Replacement 3 yrs old
costs (every
costs costs costs costs CB, every
5 yrs)
5yrs new
CB)
2016 200 100
2019 0,92
2021 0,69
2022 0,84
2025 0,77
2026 0,60
2028 0,71
2031 0,52 0,65
2034 0,60
2036 0,45
2037 0,55
2041 0,39 98
2046 0,34 0,34
2051 0,29 0,29
2056 0,25 0,25
200 3,54 100 98 5,92
Total
203,54 203,49
Table 8.2-9 below and the chart in Figure 8.2-1 lists all the various calculations made:
Regarding the different results, the conclusion is that it is more beneficial to refurbish the breaker if its
replacement can be postponed after 2040:
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TABLE 8.2-9 RESULTS OF ANNUAL CALCULATIONS PERFORMED SHOWING BREAK-EVEN POINT FOR FINANCIAL
INVESTMENT
Replacement Refurbishment Replacement Refurbishment

scenario scenario scenario scenario
Replacement Replacement
year after the year after the
Total costs Total costs Total costs Total costs
refurbishment refurbishment
scenario scenario
2016 204 304 2036 204 218
2017 204 298 2037 204 215
2018 204 291 2038 204 212
2019 204 287 2039 204 209
2020 204 282 2040 204 206
2021 204 277 2041 204 203
2022 204 272 2042 204 201
2023 204 268 2043 204 198
2024 204 263 2044 204 196
2025 204 259 2045 204 194
2026 204 255 2046 204 191
2027 204 250 2047 204 189
2028 204 246 2048 204 187
2029 204 243 2049 204 184
2030 204 239 2050 204 182
2031 204 235 2051 204 180
2032 204 232 2052 204 178
2033 204 228 2053 204 176
2034 204 225 2054 204 174
2035 204 222 2055 204 172
8.3. Decision Criteria System

Once an action has been identified for an asset, or family of assets, then a system must be in place to
plan and priorities the work required. This system must take into consideration the potential risks
involved. A spider web analysis can help in the evaluation of these risks. More information on this can
be found in CIGR technical Brochure 422 (1).
Once risks are identified then individual projects may be assessed in terms of aspects such as:
Ageing Assets
The Ageing Assets aspect evaluates directly asset related topics apart from failure
consequences, such as spare part availability, skills availability, used life time, diversity, failure
probability and functionality being future proof.
Safety
The Safety aspect evaluates the risk mitigating impact of the policy on failure consequences
threatening Safety Objectives.
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Environment
The Environment aspect evaluates the risk mitigating impact of the policy on failure
consequences threatening Environmental Objectives: Public Environmental Complaint registered
(Soil, Sound, Light, Odour, Electro-magnetic radiation, etc.), CO2 Equivalent, Nuisance, etc.
Projects with high scores should be handled with a high priority in the decision-making process.
8.4. Additional Considerations

The networks of utilities over time change and develop, adapting to the needs of its customers. During
this time manufacturers continue to develop new products and modify existing designs and sub-
systems on existing products. Sometimes products are modified due to advancements in technology
in a particular field. Products are developed, sent to market and before too long those products are
being reviewed and superseded by the next generation.
Utilities who have a slower pace of building or replacement can find that they end up with a small
family of a particular manufacturers product which can become unsupported. In terms of engineering
support and access to spare parts a risk based analysis of this situation may need to be undertaken
to ensure this family of products achieve their expected asset life span.
One way to achieve full asset life could be to replace some of this particular asset family with the
latest technology available on the market and use the released products as spares for the products
remaining in service. As an example, the TSO in the UK had 3 substations that were built using a
particular circuit breaker design that had a short manufacturing life before it was replaced by the next
generation. Access to spares many years later ceased and a review was undertaken to replace the
family of circuit breakers. The final decision was to replace all of the four circuit breakers at only one
of the sites. They were all very carefully dismantled, crated and sent to a workshop to be inspected,
refurbished and stored as spares for the remaining circuit breaker family at the other two substations.
This strategy was more cost effective than replacing all circuit breakers and it ensured the vast
majority of this family of circuit breakers could achieve their asset life expectancy.
There are other considerations beyond cost comparison when replacing equipment. The opportunity
of replacing equipment at a facility may allow implementing other improvements. One example is
noise level. This can be improved by relocating equipment to a better location, installing equipment of
improved design and specification, or installing associated barrier mitigation. And then similarly,
environmental or safety issues can also be improved as part of the replacement scope. Not unlike
vehicles, new equipment can be designed with much improved safety and environmental aspects.
Furthermore, replacing one piece of equipment can offer the opportunity to replace adjacent or
associated equipment, in a broader approach. This larger scale approach can lead to project
efficiency gains overall and reliability gains as well if bus or relay schemes are improved. Another
consideration is maintenance efficiency; perhaps spare parts are difficult to obtain for the existing
equipment, or the fleet can be further streamlined and standardised by eliminating outdated
equipment vintages.
These possible benefits can also lead to additional challenges though. Scope increase will likely
increase the initial cost, and can also increase project risk. A broader scope can also increase the
possibility of something unexpected occurring. Its also conceivable that some of these additional
improvements could trigger additional oversight, which can lead to delays or more costs. Also,
replacing equipment can result in increased risk from temporary N-1 operating conditions during
clearances, work procedure errors, or infancy design/quality issues with new equipment. And new
equipment to the fleet may require cost and resource commitments for training and document
development.
An additional complication faced by many utilities is that the age profile of their assets leads to
significant peaks in periods when potentially many assets are reaching their theoretical end of life
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resulting in the need for spikes in resources and financial commitments for utilities. Using the process
outlined here and evaluating the risks should enable these utilities to redistribute these programmes
for better use of available resources. Figure 8.4-1 below illustrates an example from Japan of how this
can be managed (18).
FIGURE 8.4-1 EXAMPLE OF ASSET REPLACEMENT REDISTRIBUTION FOLLOWING RISK ASSESSMENT FROM
JAPAN (18)
8.5. Conclusion
As indicated in TB 486 (44), in order to make informed and considered decisions on asset
replacement or refurbishment, a clear process is required. From this an investment plan can be
identified and a budget developed which will ensure the most appropriate allocation of resources and
one justifiable to all stakeholders.
Additional information on repair replace decisions can be found in the section 12.5 (Australian case
study) and in CIGR paper A2 204 from CIGR session 2008 Transformer Refurbishment Policy at
RTE Conditioned by the residual Lifetime Assessment (45).
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9. UNIFORM AND PRACTICAL MAINTENANCE STANDARDS

Since the entire Sustainment activity in a Transmission System pivots around the maintenance
standards for major equipment, developing uniform and practical standards suitable for all critical
It should be noted that the triggers for the implementation of a Maintenance Standard will likely vary.
Time, condition, criticality, etc. should be considered as indicated in previous sections of this
brochure.
9.1. Contents of a Maintenance Standard

As the definition clearly indicates, such activities are twofold and complement each other:
Maintenance of existing installations to an optimal level that allows minimal expenditures

while harvesting the assets life.
Just-in-time replacement, the Holy Grail of any asset manager.
The standard should provide enough detail such that the task(s) can be repeated consistently across
the organisation. These efforts are facilitated by the creation of suitable, uniform and practical
maintenance standards, which once set up must determine the following parameters:
The levels of maintenance as applicable to a piece of major equipment (such as circuit

breakers, power or instrument transformers, batteries, etc.) or a support system (protection
and control, telecom, compressed air system, etc.) or a whole substation or transmission line
(inspection). Examples of such levels are:
o Minor Inspection that usually requires mostly visual observations.
o Inspection at a given time interval that involves additional maintenance and testing.
o Major Inspection that may or may not include some dismantling and internal
observation/cleaning.
o Major Overhaul that normally includes detailed dismantling and internal maintenance
of the equipment in addition to those described above.
The exact maintenance activities that are covered by each of such levels. As an example as
applicable to a circuit breaker:
o Minor Inspection will consist of visual inspection of the unit, recording the number of
operations, checking on the insulating medium level (e.g. oil level, SF6 gas pressure),
checking operation of the anti-condensation heaters and insulators for visible cracks,
check of grounding, observation of any paint chips or discoloration, infrared imaging,
etc.
o Inspection or Major Inspection may include additional activities such as contact
resistance, timing, power factor testing, spring rewind time, checks on alarm and
lockout levels, checks on dashpots for leaks, and in some cases replacement of
consumable parts such as contacts, filters, insulating liquids, etc.
The frequency or time intervals between such maintenance activities. Depending on the
maintenance philosophy chosen the frequency can be determined by:
o Number of operations (e.g. for circuit breakers, load tap-changers).
o Time based maintenance (better applicable to power transformers, battery banks,
disconnect switches, etc.).
o Chosen to optimise maintenance on whole sections of the substation (e.g.
maintaining all feeder breakers of a section together with all the associated
equipment that includes disconnect switches, instrument transformers, current limiting
reactors, thus minimising outage time and optimising mobilisation, switching and
grounding time).
o Based on other maintenance strategies such as Condition / Reliability or Risk based.
A standardised time for performing these activities, expressed in man-hours. Such time
should be standard for every piece of equipment of a certain type, model, performance, and
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applicable across the entire system but should not include variables such as travel to
substation, switching and grounding, safety training, etc.
In addition to the elements listed above, the Maintenance Standard form may include the following
information:
On the front page it should clearly state:

o The equipment covered including type and manufacturer.
o The nominal ratings as shown on its nameplate.
o The names of the authors or reviewers of the standard.
o A contact name and telephone number where questions or corrections can be
addressed.
o The date of last revision.
Before the Working Pages, a table summarising:
o The activities (e.g. Minor, Major Inspections, Overhaul, some testing such as Power
Factor/Capacitance or Infrared, etc.) and their definitions.
o The frequency of the maintenance activities.
o The assigned standard man-hours.
o Any other specific notes.
On the first Working Page it should reserve space for:
o Substation name.
o Operational designation of the equipment.
o Serial number of the equipment.
o Possible work order number.
o Date of the maintenance activities.
o If applicable, space for number of operations (as found and as left).
On the Working Pages it should list a table with the following headings:
o Maintenance task (e.g. contact resistance).
o Minimum acceptable value for the quantity measure, e.g. for gas pressure.
o Maximum acceptable value, e.g for contact resistance.
o Measurement unit, e.g. M, kPa, etc.
o Actual result of the measured value as left.
o The maintenance activity under which the particular task comes (e.g. Inspection).
o A column for remarks as applicable.
On the last Working Page it should reserve space for:
o Notes by the maintenance electrician.
o Signatures by the maintenance electrician and his manager.
o Date.
Feedback from the maintenance providers in the field should be strongly encouraged, with any
suggestions coming in being given serious consideration in order to improve the documents as well
as demonstrate flexibility and respect for the ultimate users of the standards.
Once completed, the maintenance standard form represents a Condition Assessment of the particular
equipment at the date performed. It thus becomes a valuable instrument for assessing the remaining
life expectancy of the equipment and allows for proper planning of the replacement in due time the
second hat that the asset manager must wear.
9.2. Who should create Maintenance Standards

To ensure that all parties with a vested interest have input into the maintenance standards, a
committee comprising representatives from the main stakeholders must be created. It is important that
such representatives have a deep understanding of the equipment and are in effect technical
specialists.
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It is suggested that several such committees be established, covering various disciplines such as:
Switchgear equipment (e.g. circuit breakers, GIS, disconnect switches, circuit switchers,
circuit reclosers, metalclad switchgear, etc.).
Reactive equipment (power transformers, on load tap changers, shunt and series reactors,
shunt capacitor banks).
Specialised reactive equipment (synchronous condensers, SVRs, series capacitor banks).
AC/DC Power Supplies (batteries, chargers, rectifiers, transfer switches, Diesel generators).
Mechanical equipment (compressors, dryers, elevators, air condition installations, etc.).
Telecom equipment.
Protection and control equipment.
Depending on the utility organisation, would be stakeholders are Asset Managers, Engineering
Apparatus experts, Field managers and/or electricians/mechanics, Commissioning engineers, etc.
Once experts are selected, a clear schedule for meetings at regular intervals must be established,
with the task to create, review and update the maintenance standards. It is suggested that once
created, all maintenance standards should be reviewed for accuracy, updates and suggestions from
field operators at least once every 4 years.
An example from a Japanese utility of how this may be realised is shown in Figure 9.2-1. In this
example headquarters establishes maintenance standard and staff in the maintenance offices do
practical maintenance work based on the standard.
FIGURE 9.2-1 PLAN DO CHECK ACT DIAGRAM FOR MAINTENANCE STANDARD
Maintenance work is implemented with Plan Do Check Act (PDCA) cycle and the staff are
encouraged to make suggestions for improvement of the current maintenance standard.
When some change in the maintenance standard is needed, an application to change the standard is
submitted to headquarters which makes a decision on whether the maintenance standard should be
changed or not considering following points:
Streamlining entire maintenance work in the company.

Contradiction against other policy, standard, low, regulation.
Technical validity, basis.
This improvement activity system itself is included in the whole PDCA cycle and continues to improve.
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In order to get good feedback and improve standard, this kind of improvement activity system is
encouraged. Figure 9.2-2 gives an overview of the composition and inputs required for a Maintenance
Standard.
Asset Engineering Maintenance Field

Manager Expert Expert Manager
Maintenance Standard Committees

(one per family of devices eg Switchgear)
Maintenance Standard Document
(CB type x))
Contains:
Details of the specific equipment
Details of tests and observations Maintenance Maintenance
Maintenance
required Standard Standard
Standard
Details of when it is required Document Document
Document
Feedback
Details of acceptable results (Disconnecto (Earth Switch
(CB type x))
(including units of measure) r type y)) Type Z)
Actual tested values
Specific comments on testing
Reference to applicable OEM
manuals
Implementation of maintenance standard(s)
FIGURE 9.2-2 OVERVIEW OF THE MAINTENANCE STANDARD DEVELOPMENT
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10. CONCLUSION
For many utilities the content of the maintenance task has changed fundamentally. Each asset has a
role within the network and it is the performance in this role that needs to be managed throughout its
life to meet the company values of performance, costs, safety, and environment. It is this change in
focus, together with introduction of best asset management practices that has led some utilities to
achieve significant cost reductions.
A common view expressed by contributors has been the significant structural changes that have
affected site work which have in turn led to savings. Perhaps the two most significant factors have
been the difficulty to obtain outages and secondly the management of maintenance within a life cycle
context:
Outage restrictions have led many to do as much as possible with the site energised by
extending the role of the routine site surveys to include diagnostic elements. When an outage
is granted, some have saved through bundling several tasks at the circuit end.
Life cycle costing avoids the continuance of ongoing maintenance on equipment well beyond
its effective lifetime. Mid-life refurbishment or replacements are viable options to be
evaluated. Many are using this approach but often with an aged asset it is strategically better
to replace and so avoid having to repeat the wall of investment that many faced during the
1960-70 period.
Many now expect asset lives to be more than the earlier 40 year benchmark. This comes from service
experience. Disappointingly, the asset study committees still report a high proportion of failures/early
lives are due to design weaknesses or manufacturing issues. A second major feature is the
operational duty which can lead to greater variability of failure causes and hence in asset lives.
Consequently, many use an asset health review linking design with condition data in order to plan
fleet replacement. Condition based data is also reported as the indicator for intervention. Many are
still using time-based maintenance with a longer interval than indicated by the OEM. Outage
restrictions and lack of resource would make it difficult for many to keep to the OEM schedule. Many
also combine this with CBM to ensure they manage the risk of extending time interval too far. Many
are still considering greater use of reliability and risk assessments as was reported in the 2000 survey
(TB 152 (2)). Those that have been using RCM are applying this with network risk analysis supported
by the same condition measurements and duty cycle used in a pure CBM approach.
The brochure discusses a methodology for deciding the best cost option to replace or repair. This is
important but for many it is more important to modify the age profile of the installed asset base. Many
have reported similar investment peaks in the 1960-70s and do not wish to have to raise capital to
replicate it. These companies will select a replacement option to achieve a greater staging. This may
also be important when a replacement offers introduction of an asset that is new but also having a
lower ongoing maintenance cost. The spring mechanism in a SF6 breaker is an important example.
New designs also can offer other features such as lower safety risk or environmental impact should
they fail.
A feature which can be expected to be seen more in the future is site bundling. As originally planned
the site infrastructure was assigned a lifetime (40 years) and to an extent the primary assets were
designed to meet this requirement. There is clearly a need to plan the life cycle cost for the whole site
and not just individual assets within it.
The survey and contributions from utilities described in the brochure have shown savings through
changes:
Maintenance strategy: Savings in maintenance costs should not be attempted at the

expense of system reliability. Periodic maintenance activities (TBM) are generally undertaken
at longer intervals than recommended by the OEM. This is aided through service experience
and condition assessment. The combination of TBM and CBM remains the main strategy for
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maintenance work. However, under the prospects of increasingly severe financial pressure it
is possible to save further maintenance costs by prioritising on assets based on their network
impact, the basis for RCM and RBM. The tools here will use failure mode, effect and criticality
analyses, asset health reviews and interaction is based on condition assessment.
Bundling of maintenance: With maintenance outages being so dominant a cause of circuit
unavailability, there is attraction in utilising outages, planned or otherwise, to perform as much
work as possible at that time. This will involve maintaining lists of work outstanding, priority,
impact and allowable time scales.
Processes: It is expected that asset management processes such as described in ISO 55000
will become widespread in use, perhaps even mandatory. What this will achieve will be
consistent approaches to activities prioritised by risk and business benefit, leading to
significant savings:
Maintenance standards: developing uniform and practical standards suitable for all critical
Databases: Accumulation of maintenance records and analyses of failure causes and trends,
the development of alternative diagnostic technologies, data handling, processing and
storage is indispensable in order to improve maintenance work without losing acceptable
reliability. It is necessary to construct data bases that enable utilities to confirm specific
equipment's failure potential and to hold detailed inspection records and failure records for
each asset. Educating engineers to be able to evaluate and analyse failure trends is a
significant factor. Most electricity utilities now maintain a computerised maintenance
management system (CMMS) to manage their increasing amount of data being collected.
Life-cycle cost management: This is important and can lead to significant savings. This
should allow selection of new assets consistent with the installed base, allowing uniformity in
tasks, consumables, spares and staff training. Assets with lower requirements for
maintenance can be selected and the usual example is to retire air blast circuit breakers early
and replace with SF6 designs. It will also lead to optimum decisions relating to ongoing
A sustainment strategy: This should allow not just one initiative to be introduced. An
example showed in the brochure was that by looking at company needs, it was possible to
implement a wide range of initiatives and achieve savings of 33% on original expenditure.
Outcome assessment: Using key performance indicators is important to assess activity level
(costs) with outcomes. Many have used key performance indicators to achieve this by
tracking trends. Others have used benchmarking. These techniques can lead to improvement
approaches.
Skill retention and outsourcing: Sustainability in the workforce is important and
optimisation of whether certain roles should be undertaken in the utility or by a service
provider. The decision will depend upon local market situation and should lead to an
optimised means to undertake the maintenance work.
To conclude, savings are achievable for utilities but a holistic approach is required to find the optimal
solution relative to individual business needs and drivers. Utilities must consider the risks associated
with changes in approach and have systems in place to allow these to be evaluated and where
required, mitigated. The findings of this Working Group are that savings are possible and there are
many examples presented in this document which will enable utilities to explore potential in their own
situations.
Page 128
11. BIBLIOGRAPHY/REFERENCES
1. CIGR WG C1-16. CIGR TB 422 Transmission Asset Risk Management. 2010.
2. CIGR. CIGR TB 152 - International Survey of Maintenance Policies and Trends . 2000.
3. CIGR WG B3-06. CIGRE TB 607 Contracts for Outsourcing Utility Maintenance Work. 2015.
4. Forte, V. J., Warren, C.A. Distribution performance metrics used to optimize maintenance
expenditures, Proceedings of 71st International Conference of Doble Clients, Boston, USA. 2004.
5. CIGR WG C1-11. CIGR TB 367 Asset Management Performace Benchmarking. 2009.
6. IEC. IEC 60812 Analysis techniques for system reliability Procedure for failure mode and effects
analysis (FMEA). 2006.
7. Heywood R, Jarman P, Ryder S. CIGR Session 2014 A2-108 Transformer Asset Health Review
- Does it really work? 2014.
8. Nowlan, F.S. and Heap, H. F. Reliability-Centered Maintenance United Airlines AD-A066-579.

1978.
9. US Navy. Reliability Centred Maintenance Handbook, Naval Sea Systems Command, Publication
S9081-AB- GIB-010, 18. 04 2007. 2007.
10. Jay P., Wilson A. Risk Based Expenditure Planning - Myth or Reality, Eurodoble 2008, Malaga,
Spain.
11. Jay, P. and McCormick, T. Managing Maintenance in The National Grid Company Maintec 2000,
28 - 30 March 2000 National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham UK.
12. www.ofilsystems.com. [Online]
13. www.doble.com. [Online]
14. IEC. IEC 61850 Communication networks and systems in substations. 2003.
15. CIGR WG B3-12. CIGR TB 462 Obtaining Value from On-line Substation Condition Monitoring.
2011.
16. CIGR WG13.08. CIGR TB 165 Life Management of Circuit Breakers. 2000.
17. CIGR WG A3.08. CIGR TB 510 final Report of the 2004 2007 International Enquiry on
Reliability of High Voltage Equipment Part 2 - Reliability of High Voltage SF6 Circuit Breakers Working
Group A3.06. 2012.
18. Kawakita K., Yamaji K., Matsushita Y., Uehara K., Okada A., Hama H. CIGR Session Paper
B3-213-2014 Optimised replacement strategy of substations equipment considering risk
management. 2014.
19. www.flir.com. [Online]
20. CIGR WG A3.06. CIGR TB 514 Final Report of the 2004 2007 International Enquiry on
Reliability of High Voltage Equipment Part Part 6 Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) Practices Working
Group A3.06. 2012.
21. IEC. IEC 62271- 203 High-voltage switchgear and controlgear - part 203: Gas-insulated metal-
enclosed switchgear for rated votlages above 52 kV. 2011.
Page 129
22. Cross E., et al. Learning from Power Transformer Forensic Investigation and Failure Analysis l,
CIGR Paris A2-109-2014. 2014.
23. Bossi A, Dind JE, Frisson JM, Khoudiakov U, Light HF et al. CIGR WG12.05 An
International Survey on Failures in Large Power Transformers in Service, Electra 88 pp21-48. . 1983.
24. CIGR. CIGR Technical Brochure 642 Transformer Reliability Survey. December 2015. 2015.
25. Ding H, Ryder, S, Jarman P and Selbie R. Transmission transformers and why they fail
Proceedings of the 2013 International Conference of Doble Clients, Boston, USA. 2013.
26. Lapworth, JA. A novel approach (scoring system) for integrating dissolved gas analysis results
into a life management system, 7-10 Apr 2002 IEEE International Symposium on Electrical
Insulation, pp. 137-144.
27. CIGR WG A2.34. CIGR TB445 Guide for Transformer Maintenance. 2011.
28. IEC. IEC 60599 Mineral oil-filled electrical equipment in service - guidance on the interpretation of
dissolved and free gases analysis. 2015.
29. IEEE. C57.104-1991 - IEEE Guide for the Interpretation of Gases Generated in Oil-Immersed
Transformers.
30. Halstead, W. D. A Theoretical Assessment of the Formation of Gaseous Hydrocarbons in Faulty

Transformers, J. Inst. Petroleum , Vol 59, No 569, September 1973.
31. Lachman M., Wilson A., Kopaczynski D. Bushing Failures- The Doble Perspective 1999 EPRI
High Voltage Current Transformers and Bushings Symposium, TR-113649, Portland, Ore. 1999.
32. [Online] Doble. http://www.doble.com/.
33. CIGR. CIGR TB 512 Final Report of the 2004 - 2007 International Enquiry on Reliability of High
Voltage Equipment Part 4 - Instrument Transformers. 2012.
34. IEEE. IEEE 18-2012 Shunt Power Capacitors.
35. IEC. IEC 60099-5:2013 Surge arresters - Part 5: Selection and application recommendations.
36. CIGR. CIGR TB 532 Uprating and Upgrading. 2013.
37. IEC. IEC60815 Selection and dimensioning of high-voltage insulators intended for use in polluted
conditions. 2008.
38. BSI. BS EN 12464-2 Light and lighting. Lighting of work places. Outdoor work places. 2014.
39. Ullman I. The New Outdoor Lighting Implementation in Substations CEPS, a.s. EPE 2013: 14th
International Scientific Conference, Czech Republic. 2013.
40. Novak T, Ullman I, Sokansky K, Bos P, Baleja R,. Outdoor Lighting versus Surveillance
Camera Systems in Substations CEPS EPE 2015: 16th International Scientific Conference, Czech
Republic. 2015.
41. Mlcak T, Ullman I, Hrbac R, Kolar V,. Development and Implementation of an Intelligent System
for Permanent Evaluation of Light Fixtures in a Lighting System of Transmission System Substations
EPE 2015: 16th International Scientific Conference, Czech Republic. 2015.
42. NERC. NERC Reliability standards (PRC-005-2) .
43. CIGR. CIGR TB 300 Guidelines to an Optimized Approach to the Renewal of Existing Air
Insulated Substations. 2006.
Page 130
44. CIGR . CIGR TB 486 Integral Decision Process for Substation Equipment Replacement. 2012.
45. Blanc, R. et al. CIGR Session 2008 Paper A2 204 Transformer Refurbishment Policy at RTE
Conditioned by the Residual Lifetime Assessment.
Page 131
12. ANNEXES
Page 132
12.1. Summary of Enablers for Cost Saving
Category Potential enabler Equipment Potential Cost / Reference,

Impact Difficulty to chapter
Implement
1 Strategy Implementing Asset Management Culture in company and use processes such General High High 3
as those in PAS 55 and ISO 5500.
2 Strategy Focus on lifetime costs and evaluate other intervention options of General High Medium 3, 6,7,
replacing, refurbishment and not just a maintenance budget.
3 Strategy If regulatory rules allow, manage the re-investment cycle of aged networks by General High Medium 3, 7
replacing rather than repairing older assets.
4 Strategy Implementing a range of sustainment initiatives to reduce costs and manage General High High 7
an ageing infrastructure
5 Strategy Create and use a centralised IT system to collate data on assets (history, load, General High High 4
operation)
6 Strategy Assess effectiveness with Performance Indicators and Benchmarking General High Low 3
7 Strategy Outsourcing maintenance activities General Medium High 3
8 Strategy Bundled maintenance practices - combined maintenance, ensuring resources General High Medium 7
are used efficiently.
9 Strategy Differentiate maintenance interval between indoor and outdoor equipment General High Low 7
of the same family
10 Strategy Dont do maintenance on equipment performing satisfactorily General Medium Low 7
11 Strategy Remove scheduled maintenance when equipment is due to be replaced CBs, Reactors High Low 7
within 3 years Transformers,
12 Strategy Use of optimised maintenance standards for consistency of tasks General High High 8
13 Strategy Use run to fail strategy for auxiliary devices where other redundancies are Auxiliaries High Low 7
available. ie auxiliary transformer backed up by diesel gen.
14 Strategy/ Increase time interval from original value from OEM or utility. General High Low 4, 5, 6, 7
TBM
15 Strategy Change maintenance strategy from TBM to CBM, RCM or RBM General High High 4, 5, 6, 7
16 Strategy/CBM Application of CBM General High Medium 4,5,6,7
17 Strategy Application of RCM General High High 4,5,6,7
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/RCM
18 Strategy Application of RBM General High High 4,5,6,7
/RBM
19 Strategy Use CBM and asset health indices to identify lifetime and replacement based General High High 4,5,6,7
on condition and network impact- and NOT only age.
20 CBM on-line Extend role of Visual inspection /patrols of substations and make greater use General High Low 4,5,6,7
of non-invasive on-line survey type diagnostics
Use of Thermal Imaging Cameras to detect overheating
Use of thermal labels to indicate hot spots
Non-invasive Partial Discharge surveying (acoustic, ultra-violet, UHF)
21 CBM on-line In visual inspection use wifi camera on insulated rod with energised Insulators High Low 6
equipment
22 CBM on-line Oil quality testing and DGA Reactive High Medium 4,6
Equipment
23 CBM on-line Non-invasive Compensated 3rd harmonic current monitoring Surge High medium 6
Arresters
24 CBM on-line Gas leakage location Switchgear High Low 6
25 CBM on-line Timing measurements CBs, OLTCs High Medium 6
26 CBM on-line Application of online continuous diagnostics in high risk situations Transformers, High Medium- 4,5,6,7
CBs, GIS, High
Bushings
27 CBM off-line Sweep frequency response analysis, power factor/ capacitance Transformer High Medium 6
28 Maintenance Consider use of live working techniques for maintenance on HV connectors EHV / HV Medium High 6,7
tasks Connectors
29 Maintenance Improved Methods for repair of oil leaks Power Medium Low 6
tasks transformers
30 Maintenance Optimised maintenance of CBs (flanges, contact wear...) Circuit High Low 6
tasks Breakers
31 Maintenance Use of high pressure air rather than water to clean transformer cooling Power High Low 6
tasks system in order to minimise outages transformer
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32 Maintenance Exchange of O rings at regular intervals should be considered for instrument Instrument Medium Medium 6
tasks transformers transformers
33 Maintenance Corking of sealed part of instrument transformer. Instrument High Low 6
tasks transformers
34 New Use of resistive-glaze insulators to reduce washing costs Insulators Medium Medium 6
technology
35 New Change to vacuum type OLTC in new transformers Power High Medium 6
technology transformer
36 New Major overhaul programs of whole classes of equipment by the OEM (e.g. Circuit High
technology overhaul of hydraulic drives on older GIS breakers, replacement of Metalclad- Breakers,
based air magnetic circuit breakers with new, vacuum breakers disconnectors
37 New Use of solid dielectric for small transformers rather than oil LV / Aux Medium Medium
technology Equipment
38 New Use composite materials for bushings to improve safety. Bushings Medium Medium
technology
39 New Use SF6 insulated CTs. Instrument Medium High
technology transformers
40 New Use of integrated CTs with deadtank CB where available. Instrument Medium Low
technology transformers
41 New Replacement of maintenance intensive equipment with modern equipment General High High 6,7,8
technology requiring minimal maintenance.
Replace multiple pieces of equipment with single units, i.e.
replacement of LT circuit breakers, associated CTs and disconnects
with hybrid all-in-one units that require little maintenance for 25y
Opting for static devices versus mechanical i.e. using 500kV circuit
breakers combined with high energy Surge Arresters and point-on-
wave controllers versus closing resistors
Replace airblast and minimum-oil circuit breakers and associated
free-standing CTs with dead tank circuit breakers equipped with
bushing CTs
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Replace circuit breakers with ones using exclusively spring-spring

operated mechanisms, rather than maintenance-intensive pneumatic
or hydraulic mechanisms.
42 New The use of efficient lighting (eg LED) and lighting control systems Roads, ducts Low Low 6
technology and lights
43 New Install monitoring systems to avoid regular site visits. Battery Medium Low 6
technology Systems
44 New Standardisation of ratings of Power transformers to facilitate inter- Power High Low
technology changeability across network and spares holdings. transformer
45 New Use centralised IT system for data analysis and expert system such as CMMS, General High High 3, 7
technology Big Data
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12.2. Example of Specific Maintenance Standard Document
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Page 138
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12.3. Influence of technical development on the maintenance of SF 6
CBs
12.3.1. Overview of the relevant age-structure of the circuit breakers
A typical manufacturer-specific age structure of high-voltage circuit breakers is shown in Figure 12.3-1,
depending on the delivery year. Only circuit breakers of the third to fifth generation will be considered.
Circuit breakers of the first and second generation (minimum oil and SF6 double pressure type) will not be
taken into account due to reasons of comparability.
Due to economic reasons, these circuit breakers are increasingly replaced by modern types of SF6 circuit
breakers.
FIGURE 12.3-1 NUMBER OF SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKERS FROM DIFFERENT GENERATIONS SUBJECT TO DELIVERY PERIODS
Figure 12.3-1 shows 3 different SF6 circuit breaker generations. The third generation, mainly delivered from
1974 to 1989 has a total fleet share of approximately 12%. On almost all of these circuit breakers the first
major inspections have been carried out. Its doubtful that a second major inspection will be executed - the
first circuit breaker would be maintained again in 2014. Due to the current cost situation for a major
inspection compared to the price of a new modern SF6 circuit breaker and due to the fact, that the remaining
lifetime might be limited anyway, the preference might be replacement by new equipment.
However for these high-voltage circuit breaker types, special measures concerning the provision of spare
parts and maintenance material, as well as in the maintenance strategies are necessary to ensure reliability
and availability in the future.
From June to August 2011 a major inspection on two 420 kV SF6 live tank circuit breakers was performed.
The customer ordered a major inspection together with a flange treatment for support and chamber
insulators. Both 420 kV SF6 circuit breakers are four-chamber circuit breakers, puffer type with one hydraulic
drive mechanically coupled with two poles. The circuit breakers are manufactured and set into operation
in 1978 and used as a busbar coupling breaker and a transformer breaker. The busbar coupling breaker
counted for 2188, the transformer breaker 1100 operating cycles.
Various maintenance strategies have been already presented. In this case, two other important points have
to be considered in particular:
During 33 years of operation, the owner or operator has changed four times and the maintenance
strategy used.
Utilisation of transmission networks (Restriction based maintenance).
Due to the increasing utilisation of transmission systems by decentralised renewable energy supply, the
possibility of the shutdown of a substation part for maintenance and repair purposes becomes more and
more difficult. This shutdown time must be well planned and prepared. The program of the major inspection
measures is based on five variables:
Preventive, time based maintenance within tolerances (+ / - x years)
Considering the current condition of the equipment, as far as possible
Experience of the operator
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Experience of the manufacturer
Period of possible shutdown
12.3.2. Wear Reserve

High voltage circuit breakers, as well as all other assets, are subject to natural aging and have resources in
the wear parts and material. Wearable parts are:
Silver coating on contacts
Nozzle
Dynamic Gaskets
Filter material
Hydraulic oil
Oil Filter
N2-precharge pressure
Various lubrication points
Circuit breakers are designed for wear parts to be checked for further use during major inspection. This
means that the wear parts have not necessarily reached the end of life, yet their actual condition is heavily
influenced by factors out of control.
Nominal condition
Nominal Condition (after corrective maintenance)
(at first operation)
Actual condition
deviation Z0 Z1
100%
Actual condition Z1
Actual condition
deviation
gin
Actual condition
Residual wear mar
Z2
Actual condition
Z3
Damage Limit
0 Failure
Inspection
t1
Inspection
t2
Inspection
t3
Condition-dependent Correctiv
e
maintenance: mainten
an
duration ce
Knowing the right moment for
taking steps means to reduce
costs in an target-oriented way
and to increase availability
FIGURE 12.3-2 WEAR RESERVE
Based upon maintenance protocols the circuit breaker must be checked for damage, wear and function. The
results could be that the wear parts or materials are worn differently, but have not yet reached the wear limit.
This can be the reason why many customers extend the maintenance intervals on their own, based on such
experience.
A better approach can be achieved, if a comparison can be made on the basis of a footprint measurement
from the beginning of the service life.
Page 141
Manufacturers adjust the originally planned maintenance intervals if enough experience is available. In
general, during major inspections, approximately 70% of the wear parts or materials will be checked or
replaced.
Usually, no visual inspection takes place for the interrupter unit with the contact system.
This would require to open the circuit breaker, which is often not necessary, and for financial reasons, not
economical. In this case the current condition data of the interrupter unit is not available.
Therefore it will usually be attempted to get information about the current condition of the interrupter unit from
outside without opening of the circuit breaker. With a dynamic resistance measurement it is possible to get
an indication about the condition of the main contacts. Unfortunately, a resistance measurement cannot give
any precise information about how much wear reserve from the initial commissioning phase still exists.
Since the next major inspection will take place after about further 20-25 years, if ever, there is a certain risk
given.
Whether and how a second major inspection after approximately 45 years will take place or not depends on
many factors:
Fault Statistics Availability of specialists
General reliability No impact to the natural aging
Importance Technical requirements
Spare parts availability Environmental conditions
Economical spare parts procurement
12.3.3. Outcome of Inspection

Wearable parts condition and corrosion for a circuit breaker can be found in Table 12.3-1:
TABLE 12.3-1 WEARABLE PARTS AND ASSOCIATED CONDITION FOR A CIRCUIT BREAKER
Wear Parts and Corrosion Condition
Very good Good Satisfactory Sufficient Unsatisfactory
Silver plating of contacts x
Nozzle x
Dynamic gaskets x
Filter material x
Hydraulic oil x
Oil filter x
N2-precharging pressure x
Diverse lubrication points x
Corrosion x
Flange corrosion x
Explanation:
1) Very good = perfect condition; replacement not necessary; high probability of further operation for 25
years
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2) Good = minimal wear- and tear apparent; wear and tear within tolerance; replacement not
necessary, has high probability for further operation for 25 years
3) Satisfactory = wear and tear identifiable, no malfunction, replacement recommended; high probability
of further failures during the next 25 years of operation
4) Sufficient = Stronger wear and tear or corrosion apparent; material is affected; Surface treatment is
necessary; Outside tolerance limit, failures occurrences are very probable
5) Unsatisfactory = Extreme wear and tear or corrosion apparent; material damage, outside tolerance
limit; failure occurrences very probable
In this specific example the result displays, that the external condition of both circuit breakers is good.
Rupture disc and bell crank mechanism of the interrupter units have been found in good condition. The silver
plating of the contact tubes of the interrupter unit in closing end position maintains in total approximately
99%. There are hardly any traces running on contact and guide tube detected. The graphite nozzles are
virtually in mint condition, i.e., without the grain surface and almost no arcing roots.
On the other components of the interrupter units no further wear was found with one exception. An insulating
ring (wear part) of the guide tube of one interrupter unit showed electrical breakdown and had to be
replaced.
Regarding the transformer circuit breaker all interrupter units were in perfect condition.
Inner and outer tightness of the hydraulic drive system were in good condition. The N 2 pre charging pressure
was also in the range of tolerance. On pole B of the busbar coupling circuit breaker the piston rod gasket
(wear part) was worn out and had to be replaced.
The grading capacitors were measured in terms of their capacity. The deviation was less than 1%.
Another goal of the maintenance of the circuit breakers was the treatment of all flanges against corrosion.
Therefore all 6 pole columns and twin heads were removed and sent to a repair facility. Twin heads were
dismantled and the interrupter units too.
On the examined flanges corrosion was present from light to middle grade, which could be removed by
machining and cleaning of the surfaces. The penetration depth of the corrosion was not yet in a critical
condition and the sealing surfaces of the seal were also in good condition. After completion of cleaning work
on the flanges they were newly treated with corrosion protection. The internal cement joints of the porcelains
were sealed again. The sheds of the porcelains were cleaned. Then the pole columns and twin heads were
reassembled into a 4 chamber circuit breaker.
The circuit breaker was evacuated and then filled with SF6 gas. SF6 Moisture and air content have been
measured and were within the required range. This was followed by voltage drop measurements.
Subsequently, the operating times with respect to equal run-out - as measured within a pole and between
the poles were captured. The permissible values according to IEC:
Simultaneity difference between poles: Closing operation: </ = 5 ms; Tripping operation: </ = 3 ms
Simultaneity difference within a pole: Closing operation: </ = 3 ms; Tripping operation: </ = 2 ms
were observed without any readjustment of the circuit breaker. The maximum deviation was 2 ms.
The circuit breaker was delivered to the customer again.
12.3.4. Conclusion
The circuit breakers are checked during major inspection according to a checklist. All of the listed checks in
the protocol must be carried out in order to determine potential further action. As the practical example
shows, the 33-year-old circuit breakers were in a good to very good condition - with the exception of the
flanges of the support and chamber porcelains.
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The review of the flanges showed, that there was an urgent need for action. Without flange treatment, an SF6
leakage would certainly have been occurred in the near future. Unfortunately, it is not possible to monitor the
flanges for corrosion. Experience is needed here!
After flange treatment a further operation of about 20 years is possible. The technical lifetime of the circuit
breaker is not yet achieved after 33 years in operation.
12.4. Belgium TSO asset management of substation buildings 2

12.4.1. Introduction
Historically the substation asset management within a TSO is focused on the primary & secondary
equipment. With an ageing network replacements needs are increasing. In order to make the right decisions
all the assets need to be taken into account during project scoping phase. This paper describes the work this
European TSO has undertaken in the past two years to include substation buildings in an integral substation
asset management.
Including substation buildings into the substation asset management
Framing the problem

Until a few years ago Elia did not had any centralised overview of its substation building property. The
general state of the buildings was unknown to the asset manager, although it was said to be ageing. Too few
correlations were made between the primary and secondary replacement or extension projects and the
needs of the buildings where they are installed in.
This had the following consequences:

A long term replacement planning synchronisation between the building and the electrical
equipment installed in it was not done in a structural way. Although the information about the
state of the building is known by maintenance department, it is not always incorporated in the
scoping of the projects.
o The department that takes care for the planning of the projects on the long term did not
structurally consider the condition of the buildings. Only electrical needs could initiate a
project. Civil works related problems were only revealed during the definition phase of
these projects.
o When building problems were revealed too late in the project, non-optimal solutions
need to be taken in general at high life cycle cost.
o If no electrical project at all is foreseen, building problems were detected only when
maintenance department couldnt cope any more with the situation by normal
maintenance or small repairs, in case of serious damage or safety related issues.
o The contrary may also occur. In some cases the replacement of the building is
envisioned within a full scope electrical project, but as the maintenance department is
not aware of this intention, major maintenance works may be carried out on worn
buildings. This way, high expenses have been made on buildings that are going to
disappear the forthcoming years. If the long term view could be known earlier, the scope
of the works carried out by the maintenance services could be limited in these cases to
what is strictly necessary in order to guarantee the reliability of the installations.
As there was no global view, each problem was treated individually, although recurrent problems
may occur.
2Case study authors Lia Magnus (ELIA), Paul Leemans (ELIA) based on paper presented at CIGR
Belgium conference 2013. Asset Management of Substation Buildings
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Increasing maintenance budget. In the substation Rated Asset Base value buildings are only
representing a minor part, but in OPEX cost buildings represent an important part. At Elia the
relative building maintenance cost is about 2.5 times higher than the electrical asset
maintenance cost.
Objectives of including the buildings in substation asset management are:

Obtaining an overview of Elias building patrimony and its overall condition;
Developing a methodology for condition assessment of buildings as an input for the scoping of the
projects, which is nowadays mainly based on electrical needs;
Reducing maintenance costs by a better planning and management of the maintenance process in line
with the long-term view of the building or the substation.
Adapting the processes:
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Impact of CW Impact of CW
within the process within the process
TO BE AS IS
ASSET NOTES
REPLACEMENT REPLACEMENT STRUCTURE OF

DEVELOPMENT
OF BUILDINGS OF THE
OF THE GRID
(Macroview) INSTALLATIONS SUBSTATION
Safety Environment Security
EVALUATION Maintaining or
BUILDING replacement of Scoping
(Microview) the building
Development
Candidate
Approval of the project

Determination budget 25 %
Milestone A
DEFINITION FASE
Add-ons within budget 25 %

Determination impact of civil
works and different possibilities
Milestone B
DESIGN FASE
FIGURE 12.4-1 PROCESS FOR DEFINING PROJECT: AS IS TO BE
In the past the input of civil works (CW) arrived in the project process in the definition phase. In this phase
the project has already been scoped. Add-ons can still be added, but only when they fit within the budget
25%. This means that the CW related issues are rather small and that replacement of the building, if not
earlier foreseen in in the process, is excluded. In case that is needed one can return to an earlier phase in
the process and redo the work taking into account the CW. This, of course, means rework and may be
impossible due to project timing leading to a suboptimal solution.
It is obvious that an earlier detection of the CW needs in this process is wanted. The goal is that the
condition of a building can be the trigger for a project, such as replacement of installation, development of
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the grid and structure of substations in the first place, and policies of Environment, Safety and Security in the
second place can be.
12.4.2. Conclusion: general methodology

The methodology outlined is based on three bases: a database, and then what is called macroview and
microview.
A database, which assembles punctual data related to a specific building, is the most straightforward way to
obtain a view of the building patrimony. It gives not only the possibility to highlight a major problem of one
specific building, but also to identify recurrent problems. Moreover, when the link is been laid between the
condition of the building and the planning of the project, it is possible to organise the operational
management in relation to the long term vision of the substation.
Of course the development of a database requires some time and a lot depends of the data quality (input
and accuracy). Because an asset fleet overview on short time was needed, the decision was taken to start,
besides the development of the database an alternative methodology was used to deliver in a short time the
actual situation overview and also to identify the substations where major architectural risks are apparent
and to take this information into account for the project portfolio. The goal of the macroview is thus to reveal
the buildings with serious problems, regardless an (electrical) project is foreseen or not.
A microview then is performed on the buildings highlighted by the macroview. The main goal of the
microview is to assess the state of the building in reference with the long-term view of the substation and the
planned electrical projects.
Macroview and microview influence each other. The macroview is the basis on which the buildings for the
microview are chosen. The microview gives information to the macroview for classification of a specific
building to give input about the long term vision about the building. On this base, asset notes can be created
in the asset management tools and reveal the needs for CW intervention on buildings in the initial scoping
phase.
12.4.3. Macroview
The main goal of the macroview consists in revealing buildings with serious problems, especially the
buildings where no (electrical) projects are foreseen. These buildings would, as a result, not be detected and
known by the asset manager and thus stay untreated in the project portfolio during the following years.
Priority was given to obtain a general overview in a very short time (a few months) and not to have a detailed
condition assessment of each building.
As buildings are not part of the asset database yet a first draft of database was generated based on the
electrical assets present in each substation, indeed each substation has a control room, MV cubicles and
GIS are in majority installed in a building, etc...). Based on the construction years of the oldest equipment
and the financial database a first estimation was obtained for the construction year of the building. A rough
estimation of the state of all buildings was made based on the available local knowledge within the
maintenance department. Three questions were asked to be able to classify the building:
1. Does the initial concept of the building correspond with its actual function?
The question is whether the building is still appropriate for its actual function, not from the point of
view of condition of the building, but from the point of view of its conceptual design.
2. What is the occupational level of the building?

This question has been added mainly for the coherence with the projects planned by the department
that is charged with the development of the grid, to have an idea whether an extension of the
installations within the building may be possible. But also important is to have information on the
actual usage of the buildings for grid function (equipment out of service, local storage, empty
buildings,...). As they still exist, they generate operational maintenance costs which should and could
be easily avoided.
Page 147
3. What is the actual condition of the building?
The condition of the building is obviously the most important classification in this exercise. A 5 level
colour code was defined to categories the condition of each building.
As these questions may appear rather subjective and open, a predefined list of answers was given. Because
colleagues of the different maintenance zones can have a different appreciation of the condition, a workshop
was organised to readjust the scoring for equivalent conditions. This gave us on one hand the information of
the overall substation buildings fleet asset condition and allowed us on the other hand to identify the
buildings where a detailed condition assessment had to be done on short term.
As the question on the condition is the most important one, this will be further explained. An overview of the
5 colour code is given in Table 12.4-1 below:
TABLE 12.4-1 CLASSIFICATION RULES FOR BUILDINGS ACCORDING TO THEIR CONDITION
normal INCLUDE in TRIGGER

repair or
CODE EXPLANATION mainte- planned to start a
refurbish PROJECTS
nance PROJECT
Building in good
GREEN yes
condition N/A
Normal ageing, no
Keep building
significant problems.
with a horizon
Normal maintenance is
> 2020 YELLOW yes Yes
sufficient to preserve
the building in a good
condition
Yes but
only those
Building with needed to
important defects. If a guarantee
project is already minimal
ORANGE planned, the yes reliability X
Abandon replacement of the (e.g.
building building has to be repair
horizon 2020 included instead of
refurbish
ment)
Building with serious
problems, a reason to
RED X X
start a project in the (minimal)
next tariff period
Building in very bad
condition, immediate
Short term
BLACK risk for people or Immediate action
action needed
outage of grid
element(s)
Three categories can be distinguished:

1. Buildings with which can be kept in service after 2020
2. Buildings to be abandoned by 2020
3. Buildings whit an acute risk and an immediate action has to be taken
Page 148
In the first category, the colours yellow and orange are situated. Green concerns buildings in good condition,
without damage or considerable deformations of the load bearing structures, without humidity problems.
Normal maintenance is sufficient to guarantee a normal exploitation of the building. Yellow concerns
buildings with a normal ageing process. Normal maintenance and small interventions are satisfying to
preserve the building in a good condition.
The second category includes orange and red. These are the buildings with considerable damage and/or
ageing of the structure. This concerns for example buildings with humidity problems, with considerable
deformations or damage, which, on the one hand, cannot be resolved by small interventions, but, where, on
the other hand no risk is apparent for the grid or the safety of people. A building is classified as orange, when
a CW project is necessary, but only on the long term. A CW project should be started if already another
(electrical) project is defined, but if this is not the case, it may be foreseen after 2020. A building classified as
red needs a CW project within the horizon of 2020, regardless of another (electrical) project is already
foreseen or not.
The last category affects the black buildings. This classification means there is an acute risk for the safety of
people or grid. Immediate action is needed to mitigate the risk.
12.4.4. Microview
The purpose of the microview is the detailed condition assessment of one specific building. Several aspects
are taken into account.
Firstly the condition of the building is assessed in more detail. What is the general state of the building? Is
there any damage such as cracking, corrosion, settlements or humidity problems? What is the risk they
cause? Can it be repaired?
Secondly, the concept of the building is evaluated. Does the building still meet the requirements for the
installation of new equipments? Is there, for example, a cable basement in a MV building?
With this information it is possible to give an advise about the future use of the building, whether it is, taking
into consideration the condition and the concept of the building, possible to repair and to preserve the
building, or whether it is better to demolish and to construct a new one, knowing that the life time of
secondary and primary equipment is respectively 20 and 40 years.
In order to consolidate on the long term the asset management of substation buildings these assets need to
be included into the asset inventory database. Through the database structure the asset manager must get
the information about the link between the building and the electrical equipment that is placed in it.
12.4.5. Conclusions to Asset Management of Substation Buildings

The macroview exercise gave to the asset manager an overview of Elias building patrimony and its overall
condition.
By means of the microview input concerning the building use and condition is available during projects
scoping phase in order to take decisions in order to minimise total life cycle cost and risk.
When aligning the life cycle of technical equipment and buildings, high expenditures for guaranteeing the
good functioning of an old building will be avoided and maintenance costs will be reduced on the long term.
Informing maintenance department on the medium and long term usage change of the buildings as foreseen
in project portfolio will reduce maintenance costs on the short term by aligning maintenance intervention to
the future usage.
After implementing the macroview process we concluded that issues of safety and/or grid risk due to building
condition was for 99% already under control but on the other hand the scope of several projects in the
portfolio needed to be adapted.
Page 149
A database, integrated with the existing electrical asset database, still has to be developed to make this new
process manageable on the long term.
Page 150
12.5. Australia - Repair or Replace Decision Making after failure of an
EHV Transformer
Western Power experienced failure of a large power transformer made in 1990 (23 years old) on 11/09/2012.
The Transformer was rated at 330/132/22 kV and 510 MVA.
The transformer was located in a 330 kV switchyard and provided connection between the 330 kV busbar to
the 132 kV yard.
The result of oil tests and HV and diagnostic tests indicated that Phase B of the transformer had suffered a
major failure, which required the transformer to be de-tanked and the damaged phase to be re-wound.
Internal inspection of the transformer was carried out, confirming the result of oil and HV and diagnostic
tests.
Loss of this transformer to the network has been very substantial, presenting the most significant single
asset failure in Western Powers history. Clearly the contingency planning and implementation of any course
of action in respect to this failure was costly both financially and in respect to resources and time.
12.5.1. Replace Vs Repair Decision

The decision to repair or replace an asset is a difficult one which requires careful consideration of several
aspects including technical and financial ones.
Following this failure a large joint planning team was assembled with members from across the business. It
became evident that with this circuit unavailable in accordance with our Service Standard Benchmarks and
Incentive Mechanism Performance there was a financial impact to the business of approximately
$250K/month rewards foregone until the circuit is returned back to service. Complex analysis of repair versus
replacement options was performed.
The options explored included:

Repair of the existing unit already 23 years old - and would have to be performed overseas
Viability of relocation of similar capacity units from within our system
Purchasing of a smaller sized unit from a local mining company
Purchasing of a smaller sized unit ex works from another Australian utility
Purchasing a new transformer in an optimised time frame.
Western Power uses an Investment Evaluation Model (IEM) to identify preferred investment options using a
Net Present Cost value. IEM assists decision making by assessing the robustness of each possible option
amongst all applicable/feasible options by varying the sensitivity of key financial inputs. The Model can allow
the user to evaluate up to 8 competing options from a number of financial perspectives. This includes a
simple evaluation of competing options from a total expenditure perspective (i.e. at a total escalated nominal
budget or Net Present Cost level), at net present value perspective once regulated revenue implications are
considered; or at a slightly more complex level where an evaluation can be completed with respect to a pre-
determined criteria for the recommended option.
Page 151
12.5.2. Option Analysis
TABLE 12.5-1 LIST OF OPTIONS REFLECTING THE POTENTIAL SCENARIOS
RIS June 2013 RIS Dec. 2013

Nominal NPC Nominal NPC
# Option Title Capital over 25 Capital over 25 Comments
Cost years Cost years
(unit)3 (unit)4 unit) (unit)
1 Procure and Install Other 9.82 9.71 8.98 10.23 This option involves introducing
Utilitys Transformer. 225/375 new specification to Western
MVA. Power network. Higher delivery
risk than Option 2. Technically
feasible but capacity does not
meet current forecast load
requirement. Higher NPC than
Option 2. Does not deliver the
required outcomes
2 Procure new 4905 MVA 9.25 9.24 8.40 9.78 This option is technically
transformer from supplier and compliant with timely restoration
install in MU BT T1 TX of the circuit and effectively
position. minimises the cost (lowest NPC)
& delivers the required
outcomes.
Recommended Option
3 Relocate KNL transformer to 4.41 20.46 3.50 19.79 Complex delivery process which
Muja and complete remedial will Involve works to be
works at ST to bypass 330kV completed in three substations.
link at KNL by June 2013. SSAM costs will apply for not
Purchase and install new having the circuit availability at
transformer at KNL by KNL till 2016.17.
2016/17.
Highest NPC.
4 Refurbish failed Muja Bus Tie 7.78 9.99 6.92 10.29 Technically feasible but does not
Transformer Rewind single efficiently minimise cost (higher
phase. NPC than Option 2)
Increased Operational risk with
an estimated remaining life of
only 25 years.
5 Refurbish failed Muja Bus Tie 11.04 10.81 10.22 11.30 Technically feasible but does not
Transformer Rewind all efficiently minimise cost (lowest
three phases. NPC)
Increased Operational risk with a
refurbished unit.
3 'Nominal Capital Cost' reflects the total nominal capital cost required to complete the works underlying each
option.
4 'PV Total Cost' reflects the present value of the total expenditure profile (Capex and Opex) and any other
financial impacts applicable to the investment pathway underlying each option over the defined 25 year
evaluation period.
5 A technical assessment indicates that a 490 MVA transformer is required to meet the load requirements at
Muja substation.
Page 152
RIS June 2013 RIS Dec. 2013
Nominal NPC Nominal NPC
# Option Title Capital over 25 Capital over 25 Comments
Cost years Cost years
(unit)3 (unit)4 unit) (unit)
6 Do Nothing 0 Exceeds 0 Exceeds Does not deliver the required
73.0 units 73.0 units outcomes and will result in
of SSAM of SSAM penalties under the SSAM.
penalties6 penalties
Ultimately after exhaustive analysis and modelling the decision to purchase a new transformer rated at 550
MVA was made.
There were certain key points in making the decision regarding replacement of this transformer. These are
highlighted here:
Western Power is a regulated business and our regulator has set Service Standard benchmarks with
incentive and penalty payments for performance outside the specified boundaries. One of these
benchmarks is Circuit Availability which is a ratio of number of hours transmission circuits are
available over the total possible hours for transmission circuits. Our target for this performance
indicator is 98.1% and unavailability of this transformer would impact our financial figures by
$250,000 per month. This would continue for the whole duration that the transformer was not in
service, until we would reach a penalty zone which would impact us with further $120K/per month.
Purchasing a new transformer would shorten the unavailability duration by a few months
At the time of making the decision, there was no definitive answer of how the failure had happened
and we were not sure that repair of the transformer would eliminate the risk of similar failure(s)
The transformer had a complete failure on one phase with the other two phases showing no visible
failure symptoms. Repairing the transformer would have resulted in an asset which had a dissimilar
history with dissimilar inherent reliability risks
The transformer was 23 years old. Repairing such an asset would neither result in a new asset nor
necessarily an asset which would be expected to have the expected lifetime of a middle-aged
transformer
The company was able to recover the cost of remaining life of the asset before its failure from
insurance. The undepreciated portion of the asset value would pay for the part of the new purchase.
This was a great incentive towards replacement option
Similar to many other industries, Western Power receives its revenue in capital and operational
expenditures (CAPEX and OPEX). There are tax incentives in how these two sources of budget are
spent. While spending OPEX funds would result in the same amount of expenditure on the bottom
line of our companys accounts, spending CAPEX funds would ensure that we can get a return on
investment and we could depreciate the amount spent of the new purchase over the next 50 years.
The decision to purchase a new transformer comes with its own complexities, such as:
To disassemble and remove the transformer from site to the metro area for scrapping. It was far
more financially responsible to perform the disassembly/ cutting up and scrapping direct from site
Removal of Bushings tap changers and other critical parts, disassembly and scrapping of the old
cooler assembly structures, steelwork, pipe work, and electrics from site
Disassembly, cutting up and scrapping of the main transformer from site including recovery of the
windings for forensic analysis
New transformer - manufacturer negotiations / design review and manufacture
Full civil, structural and electrical design works
Site clearing and environmental cleanup works
Bundling upgrade works
Re-use or replace the existing transformer pad
Re-use or replace the aged transformer protection schemes
6Calculation based on AA3 Service Standard incentive scheme of 2.94Unit/annum over a 25 year evaluation
period.
Page 153
Installation on site and commissioning
12.5.3. Next steps

There are two similar Sister Transformer units in our system. Western Power is planning the draining and
inspection of these sister units to look for evidence of weakness or take intervention to mitigate known or
suspected problems.
12.5.4. Major learning's from the event

Learning N 1
o Employing the most modern diagnostic techniques for insulation integrity
o Performing routine full diagnostic oil analysis
o Performing routine bushing testing
o Performing routine visual and Thermographic inspections
o Performing scheduled transformer, tap changer and secondary maintenance on time
o Monitoring system faults and events
o Employing effective protection schemes
o Analysing all available data for contribution to transformer condition assessment
scorecards;
o In effect, making all reasonable effort to be confident in the operational integrity of a large
primary asset such as Power Transformers still cannot under all circumstances provide
bullet-proof forewarning of sudden and catastrophic asset failure.
Learning N 2
o The previously considered option of relocating large Power transformers within our network
between differing geographic locations as a contingency for asset failure has severe
limitations and in effect when explored in detail is not a viable option. There will still be a
large network hole to be filled, the system will be minus two units for an extended period and
the financial penalty for circuit availability will still be in effect.
Learning N 3
o The importance of Networks / Utilities to have well-structured contingency plans in place for
sudden asset failure cannot be overstated. These plans need to extend across all assets,
whether considered in very good condition or otherwise and these contingencies need to be
regularly reviewed and maintained.
Learning N 4
o As one of the most likely root causes for the fault initiation is impaired insulation between the
tapping leads at the top of the tap changer selector and gearing on the base of the diverter
switch, this will be one area to pay particular attention to when performing future internal
inspections or pre-tanking inspections during manufacture of new Power Transformers.
Learning N 5
o By employing modern innovative techniques and thinking outside the box, even the most
onerous tasks such as detailed site internal inspection, transformer disassembly, recovery of
windings and scrapping of a major power transformer on site can safely be performed.
These actions ultimately minimise the overall financial burden of major events and maximise
the recovery of crucial evidence, as well as building learning's and competence.
Learning N 6
o The ability to communicate and work effectively across different work streams at times of
system emergency can drive effective outcomes in a safe, financially responsible and
optimised timeframe.
Learning N 7
o Although not applicable in this case due to the nature of the fault, for large size and
strategically important transformers, online monitoring can be an essential tool in avoiding
failures.
Learning N 8
o For large transformers of this size, if the ratio of transformation is suitable, 3 single phase
Page 154
transformers with one strategic spare unit will provide better value in terms of financial and
reliability outcomes.
Page 155

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Saving through optimised maintenance in air

H. Cunningham, Convenor (IE), R. Mign, Secretary (FR),

Saving through Optimised

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................. 1

2. DEFINITION OF TECHNICAL TERMS & ABBREVIATIONS ................................................. 7

3. DRIVERS AND ENABLERS FOR REDUCING MAINTENANCE COSTS ............................. 9

4. MAINTENANCE STRATEGIES AND THEIR OPTIMISATION ............................................. 23

5. QUESTIONNAIRE - OVERVIEW OF RESULTS ................................................................... 39

6. SPECIFIC ASSET TYPES - EXPERIENCE & RECOMMENDATIONS ................................ 56

6.3. Other Substation Equipment ............................................................................................. 74

7. OPTIMISING MAINTENANCE STRATEGY - UTILITY EXPERIENCE ................................ 88

8. REPLACE AND REFURBISH OPTIMISED DECISIONS ................................................... 114

9. UNIFORM AND PRACTICAL MAINTENANCE STANDARDS .......................................... 123

10. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................... 127

11. BIBLIOGRAPHY/REFERENCES ..................................................................................... 129

12. ANNEXES ......................................................................................................................... 132

A questionnaire was undertaken within companies participating in B3 activities. There were 36

Maintenance strategy: Periodic maintenance activities (TBM) are generally undertaken at

This brochure discusses:

The drivers for change in the strategies for managing assets.

2. DEFINITION OF TECHNICAL TERMS & ABBREVIATIONS

a. Maintenance (Section 191-07)

ABC Activity Based Costing

KPI Key Performance Indicator

3. DRIVERS AND ENABLERS FOR REDUCING MAINTENANCE COSTS

3.1. Political and Commercial Pressures

3.2. Regulatory Pressure

To have agreed and acceptable performance standards.

Severity Moderate Serious Severe Catastrophe

Mild Accidents Accidents with injured

New law based on a

Regional or Regional and

3.2.2. Regulatory Pressures in USA

3.2.3. Regulatory Pressures in Japan

3.3. Safety and Environmental Legislation

3.4. Aging Asset Bases

This project involved implementation of a corporate management system based on PAS 55

Organizational Strategic Plan (OSP)

Asset Management Policy

Asset Management Strategy

Asset Management Objectives

Asset Management Plans

Create/Acquire Portfolio of asset systems

FIGURE 3.5-1 EXTRACT FROM PAS 55

3.5.2. Resources and Workforce Capability

3.5.3. Decision Support Systems and Data Management

Establishment of a well organised and clearly documented maintenance process that is

3.5.4. Outsourcing Securing Sustainable Contractors

A key feature of such an analysis has to be a competency mapping (3), asking:

i. Can an activity be delivered more efficiently or effectively through outsourcing?

3.5.5. Performance Indicators and Benchmarking

FIGURE 3.5-2 MAINTENANCE TASK PRIORITISED BY FEEDER SAIDI

MAINTENANCE SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

FIGURE 3.5-3 BENCHMARKING OUTPUT AND ACTION PLAN

Bay or equipment Substation level

FIGURE 3.5-4 DIFFERENT LEVELS OF MONITORING OF CONDITION BASED MAINTENANCE VALUES

CREW-RESOURCE MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY

ONLINE EQUIPMENT DIAGNOSTIC TECHNOLOGY

ASSET INFORMATION SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY

4. MAINTENANCE STRATEGIES AND THEIR OPTIMISATION

4.1. Design and Manufacture: its impact on subsequent in -service

Reduce the number of components

4.2. Maintenance Strategies