Knowledge Management for Electric Power Utility Companies

2010 ◽  
pp. 97-122
Author(s):  
Campbell Booth
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Electric Power ◽  
Asset Management ◽  
Effective Practices ◽  
Power Utility ◽  
Utility Company ◽  
Utility Companies ◽  
Power Utilities ◽  
Behavioural Aspects

This chapter will present an overview of the challenges presented to modern power utility companies and how many organizations are facing particularly pressing problems with regards to an ageing workforce and a general shortage of skills; a situation that is anticipated to worsen in the future. It is proposed that knowledge management (KM) and decision support (DS) may contribute to a solution to these challenges. The chapter describes the end-to-end processes associated with KM and DS in a power utility context and attempts to provide guidance on effective practices for each stage of the described processes. An overview of one particular power utility company that has embraced KM is presented, and it is proposed that the function of asset management within power utilities in particular may benefit from KM. The chapter focuses not only on KM techniques and implementation, but, equally, if not more importantly, on the various cultural and behavioural aspects that are critical to the success of any KM/DS initiative.

scholarly journals Global Methodology for Electrical Utilities Maintenance Assessment Based on Risk-Informed Decision Making

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 9091
Author(s):  
Mohamed Gaha ◽  
Bilal Chabane ◽  
Dragan Komljenovic ◽  
Alain Côté ◽  
Claude Hébert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Asset Management ◽  
Electrical Power ◽  
Informed Decision ◽  
Informed Decision Making ◽  
Power Utility ◽  
Important Indicator ◽  
Power Utilities ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Electrical Utilities

Modern electrical power utilities must deal with the replacement of large portions of their assets as they reach the end of their useful life. Their assets may also become obsolete due to technological changes or due to reaching their capacity limits. Major upgrades are also often necessary due to the need to grow capacity or because of the transition to more efficient and carbon-free power alternatives. Consequently, electrical power utilities are exposed to significant risks and uncertainties that have mostly external origins. In this context, an effective framework should be developed and implemented to maximize value from assets, ensure sustainable operations and deliver adequate customer service. Recent developments show that combining the concepts of asset management and resilience offers strong potential for such a framework—not only for electrical utilities, but for industry, too. Given that the quality and continuity of service are critical factors, the concept of Value of Lost Load (VoLL) is an important indicator for assessing the value of undelivered electrical energy due to planned or unplanned outages. This paper presents a novel approach for integrating the power grid reliability simulator into a holistic framework for asset management and electrical power utility resilience. The proposed approach provides a sound foundation for Risk-Informed Decision Making in asset management. Among other things, it considers asset performance as well as the impact of both current grid topology and customer profiles on grid reliability and VoLL. A case study on a major North American electrical power utility demonstrates the applicability of the proposed methodology in assessing maintenance strategy.

A Multiple Decision Support Metrics Method for Effective Risk-Informed Asset Management

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
James K. Liming ◽  
James E. Salter
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Asset Management ◽  
Probability Distributions ◽  
Heat Rate ◽  
Electric Utility ◽  
Cost Ratio ◽  
Net Benefit ◽  
Utility Company ◽  
Power Stations ◽  
Effective Decision Support

The objective of this paper is to provide electric utilities with a concept for developing and applying effective decision support metrics via integrated risk-informed asset management (RIAM) programs for power stations and generating companies. RIAM is a process by which analysts review historical performance and develop predictive logic models and data analyses to predict critical decision support figures-of-merit (or metrics) for generating station managers and electric utility company executives. These metrics include, but are not limited to, the following: profitability, net benefit, benefit-to-cost ratio, projected return on investment, projected revenue, projected costs, asset value, safety (catastrophic facility damage frequency and consequences, etc.), power production availability (capacity factor, etc.), efficiency (heat rate), and others. RIAM applies probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) techniques and generates predictions probabilistically so that metrics information can be supplied to managers in terms of probability distributions as well as point estimates. This enables the managers to apply the concept of “confidence levels” in their critical decision-making processes.

Application of Cloud Computing in Electric Power Utility Systems

2020 ◽  
pp. 229-247
Author(s):  
Radoslav M. Raković
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Computing ◽  
Information Security ◽  
Electric Power ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Business Systems ◽  
Power Utility ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Utility Systems ◽  
Power Utilities

The concept of “Cloud computing” became very interesting in recent years because it enables optimization of resources used and costs paid for it. Considering all advantages, this approach is applied widely in business systems of general purpose. In recent years, in literature it is possible to find considerations related to application of this approach in corporate systems as electric power utilities. Having in mind that such types of systems represent infrastructure ones that have great impact to the security of people and utilities, a very important question related to information security should be seriously considered. This chapter discusses advantages and disadvantages of application of cloud computing in electric power utility systems.

scholarly journals Knowledge management and decision support for electrical power utilities

2001 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 207-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. M. West ◽  
S. M. Strachan ◽  
A. Moyes ◽  
J. R. McDonald ◽  
B. Gwyn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Electrical Power ◽  
Power Utilities

scholarly journals Transformer Oil Regeneration as a Panacea for Electric Power Utility Company‟s Equipment Optimization

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 2160-2167
Keyword(s):  
Electric Power ◽  
Dielectric Breakdown ◽  
Power Transformer ◽  
Gas Analysis ◽  
Transformer Oil ◽  
Power Transformers ◽  
Dissolved Metals ◽  
Power Utility ◽  
Utility Company ◽  
Before And After

Power transformers constitute the most costly equipment which often posed constraints to electric power utility companies’ management. These transformers develop faults often due to oil insulation problems resulting from poor level of insulation oil, lack of routine maintenance, contamination, age, carbonization arising from system tripping as well as degradation of paper insulation due to ageing. However, the most economical way of maintaining stability in power supply to customers is creating a routine program of transformer oil regeneration for power transformer in the network. This paper therefore presents the optimization process of transformer oil regeneration for electric power utility company equipment. In this study, combined techniques of hot oil circulation, oil purification and oil reclamation of transformer oil regeneration was used for analysis of two 15MVA, 33/11kV power transformer. The process is aimed at drying the solid insulation of the transformer through the circulation of hot oil. The results of the transformer oil test before and after carrying out oil regeneration processes for the two 15MVA transformers are obtained and presented. For each transformer, the results are in five categories of properties namely; Physical, Electrical, Chemical, Dissolved metals and Dissolved gas analysis properties. The results indicated that the viscosity of transformer 1 is better than that of transformer 2. In addition, the dielectric breakdown voltage of oil transformer 1 is of more quality than the oil in transformer 2. The results are in agreement with standard ASTMD, IEC and ISO because the transformer properties has individual standard with each having its own mark. The comparison shows that transformer oil regenerated was very close to reality because the oil in the two power transformers is close to 90 %.

scholarly journals Defining a quality index for electric power utilities using multiple criteria decision support and time series analysis

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aderson Campos Passos ◽  
Reinaldo Castro Souza
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Electric Power ◽  
Power Distribution ◽  
Quality Index ◽  
Mathematical Formulation ◽  
Exponential Smoothing ◽  
Utility Company ◽  
Electric Power Distribution ◽  
Power Utilities ◽  
Hierarchy Process

This paper presents a hybrid multi-criteria method developed through the combination of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and exponential smoothing techniques applied in time series forecasting. To illustrate its use, a model was developed with the aim of creating a quality index for electric power distribution utilities. The conclusions highlight the need to take into account the results obtained in the latest months for those utilities, but giving less attention to those obtained in the earlier months. This characteristic of the problem led to the idea of incorporating the mathematical formulation of the exponential smoothing into the aggregation function of the AHP. At the end, the utility company is given a score between 0 (zero) and 10 (ten).

Systematic Knowledge Auditing: A Case Study in a Power Utility Company

2007 ◽  
Vol 06 (04) ◽  
pp. 231-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Y. Shek ◽  
C. F. Cheung ◽  
W. B. Lee ◽  
Y. Y. Chong
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Approach ◽  
Environmental Control ◽  
Power Utility ◽  
Utility Company ◽  
Plant Maintenance ◽  
Utility Companies ◽  
Audit Approach ◽  
Knowledge Audit ◽  
Systematic Knowledge

Managing knowledge of plant maintenance in a power utility company is vital to the provision of a safe and reliable electricity supply to two million domestic and commercial customers. The business is built on a lot of expertise, techniques and experience of all of its employees from engineering, maintenance, safety and environmental control, to quality assurance. Knowledge auditing is usually carried out as the first critical step in the implementation of any Knowledge Management programmes in power utility companies. Although various knowledge auditing approaches have been proposed by some researchers and practitioners, there is a lack of a systematic approach in the way it is conducted, and the audit practice varies with different industries and companies. This paper presents a systematic knowledge audit approach, which has been successfully trial-implemented in a power plant.

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