Equivalent Availability Measurement for Combined-Cycle Power Plants: A New Approach
The Equivalent Availability Factor (EAF) is the most important RAM characteristic in statistics for benchmarks and guarantees for power plants. It represents an energy ratio of the amount available in a period and the theoretical maximum. Representing the impact of scheduled and forced outages of components along with any deratings, a large number of parameters are involved from design, operation to the environment. In 1993, ABB and SPS commenced a cooperation on the fields of data procurement and recording. ABB brought large experience as a power plant supplier, SPS its competence as the leading firm specialized on RAM data service for the power industry worldwide. In May 2000 ALSTOM affiliated the whole power generation division of ABB. ALSTOM and SPS agreed to complete their periodic reports on time based reliability and availability data with EAF data. As the available energy must be calculated from the attributes of its components — in contrast to the effective produced energy that can be measured — the question of accuracy arises. Starting from the definition formula set as standard by ISO 3977/9 (former ANSI/IEEE 762), different methods have been considered to find the most suitable approach. The accuracy of comparisons of plants of different designs and operation modes and the ability to interpret the results is a measure for the suitability of the model chosen. Finally, some recommendations to handle and apply the EAF in the power plant business are given.