CHARACTERISTICS

Unit maintenance is important in slowing the rate or deterioration of equipment or restoring part of the performance loss. Regular outages for maintenance and repair are essential to ensuring that a power plant operates efficiently and according to design specifications. However, when baseload plants are taken off-line, their load is usually met by operating other, less-efficient units.

Utilities can avoid the higher emissions produced by less-efficient units by taking steps to reduce the duration and frequency of planned outages for maintenance and repairs. With careful planning, prioritizing and scheduling, utilities can reduce the length of time required to perform the repairs. Also, by performing preventive maintenance during plant operation, utilities can minimize the frequency of necessary outages for repairs. By scheduling downtime during periods of low-demand, use of less-efficient units can also be minimized.

Modern computer databases/systems are available to help utilities better manage equipment and O&M processes. Accessing resources such as the EPRI Power Delivery Group will help companies remain up-to-date on advanced technologies. Use of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and benchmarking systems can also help to improve communication and performance of regional control centers.

SIZE:
Applicable to all sizes of units.

FEATURES:
Can involve steps to reduce both the duration of and frequency of planned outages. Some independent power producers report availability around 90%.⁵

COST:
Costs will be minimal for administrative actions, but may be substantial if the purchase of computer/software tools is required. However, any actions that improve overall load management will likely be cost-effective.

CURRENT USAGE:
Emission reductions are already enjoyed as a result of improved maintenance efforts in Georgia, Senegal and India as well as in the U.S.⁶

POTENTIAL USAGE:
Every utility can benefit from increasing plant availability of its most-efficient plants.

ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH IMPLEMENTING ACTION

• Utilities have a considerable experience base with O&M actions.
• Collaboration between operations, maintenance and engineering is required to incorporate best practices.

CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT

EMISSION EFFECT:
    

CONDITIONS FOR EMISSIONS MITIGATION:

• Emissions will be reduced directly because of increased efficiency of generation, and indirectly through avoiding higher emissions from operation of less-efficient units.
• This action will not produce large reductions in GHG emissions, but can be useful in achieving modest reductions in the short-term.

EMISSION ESTIMATE:
Will vary according to the "down" and "replacement" generation sources used.

COST-EFFECTIVENESS:
Since power is dispatched using least-cost source first, any actions that reduce the downtime of least-cost, baseload power will be cost-effective.

SECONDARY EFFECTS:
If reducing planned outages avoids emissions from fossil-fuel sources, then air pollutants will be lower. However, if replacement power comes from renewable energy sources, then reducing planned outages may actually increase emissions.

RESOURCES

• The Electric Power Research Institute's Generation Group hosts a webpage describing its tools to optimize power plants, http://www.epri.com/gg/fossil/pub_ppo/index.html.
• The International Quality & Productivity Center sponsors an annual conference and workshops on Shutdowns, Turnarounds, Outages & Overhauls–Best Practices in Process and Power. http://www.iqpc.com.

CONTACTS

Electric Power Research Institute
Generation Group
Palo Alto, CA
http://www.epri.com

International Quality & Productivity Center
Little Falls, NH
Tel: (973) 256-0211
Fax: (973) 256-0205
info@iqpc.com
http://www.iqpc.com