Proactive Asset Health Management in the Age of Renewables, EV, and Unprecedented Demand

Utility asset managers face unprecedented challenges as users demand more and more capacity, thousands of new renewable energy sources come online, and broad adoption of EVs and battery systems tax the world’s aging transmission and distribution grids.  The once-revolutionary concepts of reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) are rapidly evolving to meet these challenges using sophisticated monitoring, analytics, and data to drive asset management decisions. Today, strategic, data-driven asset health management is critical as utilities prioritize the most critical maintenance, upgrade, and replacement activities for primary and secondary equipment. We believe three key areas can dramatically improve asset management for operators. 

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Between 2000 and 2019, the cost of operations & maintenance (O&M) for electrical grid transmission and distribution increased by 64% to $14.6B USD (25% of all spend on electric distribution in the U.S.) Asset management for these utilities is challenging since most of the lines in the U.S. transmission grid are over 25 years old and carry 90% of the nation’s power, according to the Department of Energy. With more than 8100 sustainable energy projects coming online in the next few years, intelligent grid asset management is top of mind for every utility in the country. 

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Continuous monitoring, analytics and machine learning, and asset testing can unlock longer service life for existing assets, reduce expenses, prioritize resource allocation, and prevent equipment failures. These systems significantly reduce O&M expenditures as they reduce manual inspections and time-based maintenance activities by monitoring the remaining useful life of each grid asset and for acute conditions that could lead to failure. 

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While many factors impact asset health, we see three cornerstone strategies that asset managers should employ to improve overall system health and performance, reduce O&M expense, and optimize transmission and distribution systems for maximum efficiency, safety, and reliability.  

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1. Continuously monitor and analyze the health of overhead and underground lines with dynamic line sensors.  Sensors collect real-time  data that reveals trouble spots with actionable analytics.  These analytics enable asset managers to prioritize maintenance based on actual conditions rather than time-based maintenance schedules. Overhead and underground line sensors and substation and transformer asset monitoring guide maintenance priorities and focus resources on the most critical issues.  By continuously monitoring vibrations, conductor sag, wind speed, and mean conductor temperature in transmission and distribution lines with sensors such as Ampacimon’s ADR Sense series, asset managers can monitor health metrics such as creep, galloping, and remaining useful life. With this information, O&M resources can be focused on essential activities that improve grid performance and reliability and reduce cost.

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2. Leverage analytics for strategic notifications, alerting, and planning.  Analytics systems that process sensor data provide real-time capacity and system health insights. These systems can send alerts and notifications to inform operators and pinpoint current issues and future trouble spots. Systems must be integrated, and data must be analyzed intelligently to be effective. Without analytics, notifications, and alerts,  operators will struggle to find helpful information in endless streams of data. Analytics also reveal trends and anomalies caused by many factors, including weather events, aging equipment, or the integration of renewables, electric vehicles, and distributed storage devices.  Statistics and trends can inform investment decisions and integrate with Active Distribution Management Systems (ADMS). Additional efficiencies in fault detection, isolation, and service restoration can reduce O&M costs and improve safety and reliability metrics. 

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3. Actively employ intelligent Partial Discharge (PD) monitoring. Regular, complete PD monitoring ensures that the insulation in cables, switches, and transformers is sound and not compromised. Partial discharge is the leading cause of electrical failures, according to the National Fire Protection Association.  The problem is particularly acute for utility operators as critical assets in the grid suffer the greatest losses due to insulation failure. Partial Discharge monitoring provides critical data to asset management systems, but data quality is key. Filtering out the noise to identify anomalies that indicate PD can create meaningful alerts and notifications rather than frustrating and expensive false positives.  Continuous testing can reveal PD well before insulation failure, helping utilities make informed decisions regarding asset repair or replacement, resource allocation, and reducing unexpected failures or outages.  Ampacimon’s patented noise filtering technology leads the industry in PD data quality.

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Ampacimon is the leading global provider of overhead line and underground cable Sensors, analytics, and health monitoring solutions serving utilities. To learn more about asset management tools and strategies, please visit www.ampacimon.com or email contact@ampacimon.com.

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(Originally appeared in Utility Dive)