Development of a maintenance strategy for power generation plants

Abstract

Effective maintenance of power generation systems is essential to ensure that the variable demand for electricity is satisfied on a daily basis. Equipment used on generation plants, e.g. boilers, turbines, generators, compressors and pumps, are becoming more sophisticated and complex, and therefore require more effective maintenance strategies and tactics. A number of maintenance approaches have been developed in the last 4-5 decades, e.g. reliability-centred maintenance, business-centred maintenance, and total productive maintenance. This paper discusses the results of a research study done to investigate strategy in the maintenance environment of power generation systems. The study found that most power stations have a maintenance strategy and use maintenance approaches and different maintenance tactics like run-to-failure, time-based maintenance and condition-based maintenance. It was also found that the SAPTM information system is used by nearly all power stations.