Reliability--A Strategy for Power Generators 4/3/22, 3:21 PM

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Reliability–A Strategy for Jim Cahill

Power Generators Chief Blogger,
Social Marketing
Leader
by Jim Cahill | May 8, 2015 | Asset Management,
Industry, Power Generation, Reliability
! " !

Author: Douglas Morris

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Where it is installed, renewable this:
generation is altering the operating
landscape for power producers. Wind
Subscribe
and solar assets are typically placed into
to
the power grid whenever they are
Podcast
Douglas Morris available, but since they are intermittent,
formerly base loaded power plants are
cycled in order to balance the grid.

Unfortunately, many plants were not designed to operate like this and
the increased amount of plant cycling induces additional thermal
stresses to equipment which can lead to premature failures and forced
outages.

Unless it is addressed, cycling can both reduce unit availability and

increase operations & maintenance costs, something no plant staQ
desires. The United States-based National Renewable Energy
Laboratory states that, “A major root cause of increased operations &
maintenance costs for many fossil units is cycling.”

To help mitigate the eQects of operating like this, plants need to

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Reliability--A Strategy for Power Generators 4/3/22, 3:21 PM

embrace robust reliability programs. Sometimes reliability programs

are thought to be part of a maintenance or reliability departments, but
this is old thinking because strong reliability programs should be
considered a business strategy for competitive advantage.

Maintenance savings are only a small part of any program beneZt; in

fact Emerson’s Reliability Consulting Group (formerly MRG) estimates
that top reliability programs can achieve operational savings that are 5
to 10 times of any maintenance savings.

If your plant cycles, the question to consider is not whether you have a Related
reliability program, but rather how can your reliability program be Posts
turned into a competitive advantage?

From Jim: You can connect and interact with other power and reliability
experts in the Power and Reliability & Maintenance groups in the
Reliable
Emerson Exchange 365 community.
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2021
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