How Distribution Utilities get started with Grid Asset Management?

[SebastienMichelin]

Distribution System Operators industry is by far the most capital asset intensive one compared to ther industries.

Their asset strategy approach should take into consideration special characteristics such as:

1. The volume of assets,
2. The nature of assets: substations, linear, microprocessor based, etc,
3. The diversity of manufacturers, OEM, brands,
4. The geographical dispersion of assets over the grid,
5. The interconnection and inter-relations of assets,
6. The high risk of value destruction by anavailability of the grid.

In addition, they are the heart of the energy transition towards a more sustainable, resilient, secure and efficient power distribution.

All this sets the bar at a very high level for defining strategic asset management policy, as promoted in ISO55k standards.

The traditional approach in most of Distribution Utilities consists in applying time-based or corrective maintenance and replacing assets after failure or after a pre-determined period (for instance the end of amortization period).

While this strategy is easy to schedule and implement, it introduces drawbacks and risks. It assumes asset
failures are only age-related; it’s not taking into consideration asset condition; and it can lead to increased costs with excessive or low maintenance.

Our EcoStruxure Grid Asset Advisor leverages available Grid data to shift the paradigm of asset strategy.

Grid Asset Advisor gathers and analyzes Utility data to determine asset health, risk, likelihood of failure, need of maintenance and remaining useful life. In addition, Grid Asset Advisor integrates with Utility maintenance management systems to provide a seamless and efficient maintenance business process execution.

The outcome? A prioritized list of asset maintenance or replacement actions.

The benefits? Informed maintenance/replacement decisions, integrated maintenance workflow, reduced unplanned outage, reduced asset failures, reduced emergency interventions, improved network operations leveraging awareness on assets.

The value? Operations & maintenance costs reduction (up to 15%) and sustaining CapEx deferrals (can reach 25%). 

Grid Asset Advisor leverages our Schneider Electric expertise in power assets and in grid management to deliver asset insights taking into consideration asset intrinsic functions and the grid active topology (power flows, connected loads, etc,).

How to get started? Grid Asset Advisor is a scalable solution offering a progressive approach, starting with what Utility can provide (usually GIS and/or SCADA data), and evolving to a more integrated approach leveraging ADMS or IIoT data.

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