A Need for a Sustainable Asset Management Framework for Hydroelectric Run-of- River Infrastructure
Date
2012
Authors
Shoolestani, A.
Vanier, D.J.
Froese, Thomas M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
CSCE 1st International Specialty Conference on Sustaining Public Infrastructure
Abstract
Hydroelectric civil infrastructure is a significant asset domain in Canada. Hydroelectric plant owners need to maintain plant availability and efficiency at their highest level to maximize generation revenue over its long life at minimal costs and risks. Hydroelectric run-of-river plants are expected to have operational lifetimes of about 50 to 100 years with proper maintenance and renewal. The more a plant ages, the higher the risk of failures and the cost of maintenance, repair and rehabilitation. Major asset categories are intake, penstock, powerhouse including turbines and generators, switchyard including transformers, and transmission line. Assessing, maintaining, upgrading or replacing these assets in a sustainable manner is essential for low risk and profitable operation of the plant. This paper provides an overview of asset management in the hydropower industry; emphasis is placed on evaluating asset management frameworks, condition assessment protocols and decision-support tools for hydroelectric infrastructure. The study identifies the extent of asset management culture in the hydropower industry, addresses the need for condition and risk assessment, service life prediction, life-cycle costing and decision-support tools for run-of-river plants, and identifies the challenges for condition monitoring, maintenance,
repair and renewal planning faced by run-of-river asset owners and managers. A literature review leading to this paper has traced a limited number of asset management applications, and none provides a comprehensive solution to address the current needs for optimal management of runof-river infrastructure. As a result, a research programme is undertaken into the development of a risk-based sustainable asset management framework for hydroelectric run-of-river infrastructure.
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Citation
Shoolestani, A., Vanier, D.J. & Froese, T. (2012). A Need for a Sustainable Asset Management Framework for Hydroelectric Run-of-River Infrastructure. Paper presented at CSCE 1st International Specialty Conference on Sustaining Public Infrastructure, Edmonton, AB. https://csce.ca/en/publications/past-conferences/