pwr_february-2025 - 13

GRID RELIABILITY
" The process of monitoring and setting
up a system to proactively maintain
assets to extend their lifecycle and prevent
malfunctioning is also known as 'asset
lifecycle management (ALM)', " said
Terry Saunders, Worldwide Utilities and
Industry leader at IBM. " As organizations
continue to look for ways to conduct
more efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable
operations many are turning to
ALM. For energy equipment specifically,
ALM practices may include installing
sensors and using cameras for immediate
eyes on equipment to identify factors
affecting performance, and using
AI-infused software that recommends
specific maintenance directed by the
data. By approaching maintenance and
operations management from a preventive,
data-driven approach companies
can ensure that their systems are performing
optimally for longer, ultimately
maximizing their return on investment. "
Tyler Lancaster, partner at Energize
Capital, a group that invests in climate
technology, including renewable energy,
told POWER: " A big shift in the power
sector has been moving away from
cycle-based maintenance programs to
data-driven, proactive maintenance programs.
Some aspects can also be automated
to drive further efficiency and
reliability. This is true across every form
of power infrastructure.
" For example, historically, utility poles
were inspected on a cycle once every
five to 10 years. Over time, utilities and
their service providers have built up a
large amount of data and information on
common failure modes for utility poles, "
said Lancaster. Increasingly, analytical
models can be applied to estimate the
probability of failure for each pole based
on the type of wood, environmental factors
like moisture, location, etc., and can
tailor maintenance activities to inspect
and repair higher risk poles sooner.
Lancaster said it's difficult to standardize
operations to improve reliability. " This
is a key challenge for the power sector, as
operations tend not to be 'one-size-fitsall.'
Different grids, with different environmental
factors and natural systems, with
different power infrastructure configurations-generation
mix, T&D system setup,
consumption segmentation and load
profile, etc.-require tailored operations
to ensure reliability. Where operations
can be standardized is through the use
of modular and adaptable technologies
which can be easily configured to the
unique needs of a specific power plant
or grid operator's context. "
February 2025 | POWER
" Standardization can play an important
role in power system reliability as
it promotes consistency, predictability,
and interoperability, " said Keefe. " It can
help reduce human error, and improve
communication and coordination-especially
during emergencies, with faster
response times, etc. "
Combating Failure
Working to eliminate grid failures, or at
least mitigate their impacts, is a goal of
those working with utilities and grid operators.
That can involve gathering data,
knowing how to interpret it, and also having
systems in place to deal with issues
as they arise.
" Reliability at the equipment or component
level is driven by two key factors-probability
of failure and impact
of failure. Enhancements that address
one or both these factors are key to improving
reliability, " said Steve Morris, a
managing director with FTI Consulting's
Construction, Projects & Assets practice.
" Whether it's a power plant or the
grid, reducing the probability of failure
comes down to maintaining the assets
in good operating condition through
preventive and condition-based maintenance.
Reducing the impact of failure is
reliant on having redundancy in the system
so that the failure of a single asset
or component doesn't reduce plant or
system performance. "
Morris said, " For a power plant or
electric substation, this is typically
achieved by having spare capacity that
can be used if there is a failure. For
example, instead of having one power
transformer in a substation running at
full capacity, you would have two running
at 50% or less capacity. If one fails,
you can switch the other with no impact
on the system. For the transmission
grid, in most cases, if a single transmission
line fails, there is sufficient capacity
to switch to another transmission
line, which has spare capacity. For the
distribution grid, redundancy is achieved
by interconnecting circuits and having
auto reclosers, which can automatically
restore after a fault is cleared, and sectionalizers
that can section off parts of
the system to reduce the number of
customers impacted by an outage. "
Sally Jacquemin, vice president and
general manager, Power and Utilities
at AspenTech, told POWER: " Redundancy
plays a vital role in maintaining
the reliability and stability of both power
plants and power grids. As the energy
landscape shifts toward greater integrawww.powermag.com
tion
of renewable sources like wind and
solar, the variability of these resources
increases the importance of backup systems.
Redundant infrastructure, including
reserve generation and microgrids,
ensures that power continues to flow
smoothly during both planned and unexpected
disruptions, such as outages
or system failures, minimizing the risk
of blackouts. "
Jacquemin said, " Historically, utilities
maintained excessive reserve generation
to protect against worst-case scenarios,
ensuring power availability in case of failure.
Today, however, there is a balance
between maintaining enough redundancy
to prevent outages and avoiding overinvestment
in reserve capacity. Modern
systems focus on understanding the critical
threshold of necessary redundancy,
ensuring operational efficiency while still
providing reliability in the face of unexpected
events like sudden generation
loss or extreme weather conditions. "
Jacquemin added, " Microgrids and localized
redundancy solutions are increasingly
important as they allow certain
areas to maintain power even when the
larger grid is disrupted. Powered by local
generation sources like solar or batteries,
microgrids can operate independently,
providing resilience during storms or
grid failures. The integration of renewable
energy further highlights the need
for redundancy, as renewables introduce
variability that requires additional backup
systems, such as storage or traditional
generation, to ensure a reliable and stable
power supply. "
" Redundancy is most important
for the transmission system as North
American Electric Reliability Corporation
[NERC] requires that the transmission
system must be able to handle the failure
of a single component without causing
a significant outage, " said Morris.
" Therefore, transmission lines and substations
are designed with redundancy.
Redundancy is less important for power
plants as typically a single unit of a power
plant only produces a small portion of
the power on the grid. In addition, power
grids are required to have reserve capacity
to be able to handle unit unavailability,
maintenance, and higher than normal demand.
The distribution system is similar
to power plants in that most equipment
serves a small number of customers, so
a failure has little impact on the overall
grid. Therefore, there is little redundancy
in the system, other than in substations. "
Morris listed several ways to enhance
reliability of power generation and the
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