CONDITION BASED MAINTENANCE FOR IMPROVING

POWER PLANT ECONOMICS

DR.V.BHUJANGA RAO, SC ‘G’ & ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR,
NAVAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGICAL LABORATORY
VISAKHAPATNAM-530 027, INDIA
E-mail : [email protected]
The per capita consumption of electrical power in India is around 300 units

which is 1/10 of the average world per capita consumption and 57 times less than

USA and 29 times less than Germany. The demand for power in the country has been

growing at the rate of 8% per year. The present installed capacity in the country is

around 95500 MW, 80% of which is supplied through fossil fuel (coal), about 17-18%

through hydel where as the nuclear power contributes a little less than 3% of the total

power. The nuclear energy share in the world is 16%. The demand for electrical

energy in India is rapidly increasing due to industrial and population growth,

outstripping the available generation.

India has planned to increase power production at the rate of 10000 MW/year

in the ninth plan which is proposed to be increased to 12000 MW/year in the 10th

plan. Indian power generation has been and will continue to be predominantly coal

based. India stands eighth in the world with an estimated coal reserve of 200 billion

tonnes and it ranks fourth in terms of volume of production after China, USA and

Russia. This increased power demand can be met with, only if available installed

power generating capacity is effectively utilized adopting refined operating and

maintenance practices. Power plants are characterised by large capital investments

and high fuel costs creating a critical need for detecting, identifying and diagnosing

machinery problems.
 Electricity is slowly becoming an expensive commodity that cannot be doled

out on non-economic considerations. When the country stands poised to record over

7-8% manufacturing growth rate on annual basis. The one major factor that is holding

everything back is the widespread shortage of power.

The financial situation of the SEBs has been the prime cause of the weak

revenue stream within the sector. The management is anything but commercial. They

have been asked to sell power at a price lower than the cost of production. Their plant

load factor is as low as 65.5% at 1999-2000 average value, and suffer high T&D

(Transmission and Distribution) losses. The transmission and distribution losses in

India have gone up to 23% in some cases it varies from 30-40% due to various non-

technical reasons like pilferage etc. on average as compared to 8-10% in developed

countries. It is estimated by Rajyadaksha Committee on power that the maximum

power loss in T&D system can be brought down to about 15%.

The major portion of the technical losses is attributed to the distribution losses

which is of the order of 19% where as the contribution of transmission losses is about

4%.

The growing demand for cheaper and more reliable electricity supply, are forcing

power generating facilities to find alternate means to make better economical gains.

When costs need to be cut and availability increased attention is ultimately drawn to

the maintenance sector. It has been analysed that by improving monitoring and

operating procedures 10% of the energy could be saved. In many cases, outdated

equipment and processes in Indian industry and agriculture sectors consume more

power than required due to inefficient operations as compared to Western countries.

Improving efficiency of existing power plants is the easiest way to make rapid

strides in electricity because at present, efficiencies are low and decisions to improve
efficiency are centralised. It is estimated that 1% reduction in plant efficiency (or 1%

decrease in heat rate) amounts to annual loss of the order of 4 crores for a 210 MW

unit or 10 crores for 500 MW on fuel cost alone for a pit head station. Even at 0.5%

increase in boiler efficiency can result in a substantial saving of Rs. 80 lakh per

annum for a typical 500 MW boiler.

As per national average, 10% auxiliary power is being consumed by power

industry itself. As per 1997-98 figures, out of the 346710 MU (thermal) of power

generated in the country, 34671 MU was lost as auxiliary power. 1% reduction in

consumption of auxiliary power means a saving of the order of 3467 MU . Saving of

the order of 3467 million units and supply the same to LT/HT consumers would lead

to a cash earning of Rs. 1133.7 crores @ Rs.3.27 per unit sold. Rs.3.27 has been

considered as cost of one unit of electricity (one KW/h) . This has been found to be

the average value of unit cost of both LT & HT consumers.

As already stated in the previous paragraph, transmission and distribution

(T&D) losses constitute nearly 23% of the generation. Therefore reduction of T&D

losses shall play a vital role in reducing the cost of power to the consumers. Every

unit saved is every unit generated.

All sub-station equipments must therefore receive high standard of

maintenance so that they perform reliably throughout their life span. Generally the

consequences of not maintaining them properly will have cascading effect resulting

into power tripping, loss of system stability and break down leading to damages to

neighbouring costly equipment. Besides this, the loss of production in a process

plant(s) or in a manufacturing unit(s) and many down stream units is to be taken into

account.
 The total annual energy consumption for 1999-2000 was 470 giga units. It

would be worthwhile to note that a mere 1% reduction in energy losses in India is

equivalent to the output of about 500 MW which needs an investment of more than

1500 crores. Most of the losses in distribution are traced to be due to simple problems

like poor joints, sagging, overloading, HT/LT jumper burnt, HT/LT conductor broken,

jumper loose, burnt etc. All these problems arise out of improper maintenance.

In India failure of Distribution Transformers (DT) are in the range of 20% to

40% as against 1 to 3% in Western countries. It is known that failure due to

inadequate maintenance is very high which can be brought down to 4-5% by proper

maintenance strategy. The number of such transformers which are generally deployed

is very high. To cite an example, MSEB has got 1.35 lakhs DTs spread over a vast

area. MSEB also adds 5000 new DTs every year at a cost of nearly 25 crores.. Though

the estimated life of each transformer varies between 20-25 year depending on KV

rating, in reality they are failing after a life of 5-6 years. There are many instances in

the records of SEBs where DTs have failed even within 1 or 2 years due to poor

quality. It may also be mentioned that PMP can be used to check quality at production

stage of transformers. Though modernisation of T&D system is called for improving

this situation, it would cost enormous amount of capital.

In summary, it can be stated that there is large scope to cut down costs of

energy generation, transmission and distribution which can be achieved through

proper maintenance strategy. In an economic survey report carried out in March ‘97,

it is stated that unless infrastructure facilities such as power generation are maintained

so as to produce the same at lower cost, the momentum of growth in Industry will be

reduced. If the cost of power can be reduced, then most of the industrial sectors such

as steel, cement, fertilizers, petrochemicals and many other down stream industries
will become much more competitive when compared to global market. Here it may be

mentioned that energy consumption in steel industry is the highest in India. It is 142

dollars/ ton of saleable steel, while it is only 79 to 87 $/ton in UK, USA & Japan.

Similarly, Indian pulp and paper industry’s energy consumption stand at 31-

51GJ per tonne of product which is roughly twice the norm in North America and

Scandinavia, other major paper and pulp industries countries in the world.

Another major important aspect is providing power not only at cheaper cost,

but providing it without unplanned interruptions. In one fertilizer plant in which there

is no captive power plant, the cost of fertilizer plant tripping due to power supply

problems alone cost Rs.4 crores/year. Though it is difficult to estimate the cost of lost

production due to improper supply of power, in nearly 4000 industries in India, one

can guess it will be phenomenal.

In fossil stations alone they have monitored 5000 numbers of power

generating machinery and the number of monitoring points is about 47000 before

coming to the conclusion that PMP is one technique which will stay in reducing the

cost of power generation.

2. PMP AS MAINTENANCE STRATEGY IN POWER INDUSTRY

The Department of Energy, USA and Electric Power Research Institute, USA

have

demonstrated the potential of PMP in a number of power utilities to reduce forced

outages in both fossil and nuclear power stations. In fossil stations alone they have

monitored 5000 numbers of power generating machinery and the number of

monitoring points is about 47000 before coming to the conclusion that PMP is one

technique which will stay in reducing the cost of power generation. EPRI had spared

time to take every fault identified during 1986 and to postulate a reasonable scenario
of events had the fault gone undetected. The maintenance and replacement spares cost

associated with the postulated scenario were estimated and compared to those which

actually occurred from taking action. From this study, EPRI who had monitored this

programme had estimated a net cost savings of $990,000 for the total of all stations

monitored at one utility.

In another report, it is mentioned that in one Western Texas facility, the cost of

co-generation was reduced from $7.0/HP to $3.5/HP through PMP. The same report

also states that in a nuclear power plant in USA, the estimated savings were $2

million in the first year and $3.5 million in the second year following a well designed

PMP.

It has been reported in a study carried out by a US based Thomas Marketing

Information Centre (TMIC) that a medium sized power plant in New Haven,

Connecticut saved well over $4,56,000 a year by installing PMP system. It has also

been stated that the

system paid for itself in the first 12 months. It has been reported by the same study

group that they have recorded 18,255 forced outages in the US Power industry in a

single year which was costing upto $125 billions.

PMP has also been employed with excellent results in an Austrian hydro

electric power plant in 1994-95. Similar success stories regarding the power of PMP

has been reported in various other power utilities across many continents.

In the Indian context, the study carried out by the author indicated that the

potential of PMP has not yet been applied in power industry as a cost reduction

measure. Though some of the power plants are having PMP equipment as part of
OEM units supplied, no sincere efforts are made to use it as important maintenance

tool.

Still it is very common in India to hear that a particular power plant was shut

down due to sudden equipment failure. Such situations could easily be avoided if

proper PMP is implemented. Lack of training, commitment and belief that PMP will

give good results are some of the reasons which were found to be a common thinking

in many power plants personnel.

The results show that manufacturer defects and inadequate maintenance are

responsible for the majority of power transformer failures (i.e. 60%). Since PMP can

be used not only to assist maintenance people, but as a quality tool, PMP can be used

effectively to reduce these failures of 60% down to 4.5%.

Today, a number of components in power plants, (fossil, nuclear and hydro

electric plants), including Transmission and distribution system can be effectively

monitored through PMP. These include boilers, turbines, gear boxes, motors,

bearings, transformers, circuit breakers, loose contact switches, circuit jumpers,

control equipment etc. There are sufficient number of PMP techniques

(Thermography, vibration, wear debris etc) which can be applied without taking items

such as transformers, contact switches, boilers etc. out of service and determine the

maintenance requirements.

It has been well established that by improving monitoring and operating

procedures, 10% of the energy could be saved in generation. Motor driven pumps are

used in every industry, agriculture sector and every walk of life. Pumping is one area

which alone accounts for more than 30% of the total power consumption in the

country. Rectification of these pumps from defects such as mis-alignment alone can

result into huge savings of over 4000 MW of electrical power. In a steel plant, nearly
20000 motors are used for various applications. Since the motors are running and

doing their work, nobody suspects their operation. But they may be consuming more

power than they are in healthy condition. PMP identifies such motors so that they can

easily be repaired and original operating condition will be restored. From many case

studies, it has been established that a minimum of 2% of energy consumption can be

saved using PMP in any industry.

Similarly a study was carried out by the author in a pulp and paper plant

where a number of machinery will be operating throughout the year. The energy

consumption, for a typical 100 TPD plant is about 2690 kwh/tonne of paper produced.

A saving of 2% in power consumption means saving of 53.8 kwh units/tonne of

paper production. At kwh unit cost Rs.3.27, this works out to saving of Rs.176 per

every one ton of paper produced (or 17600 per 100 ton produced in a day). What PMP

does is to make sure the machinery are operating in healthy condition to realise this

savings.

3. LIKELY SAVINGS DUE TO IMPLEMENTATION OF PMP IN INDIAN

POWER INDUSTRY

In the power industry the potential for savings in maintenance exists in three

areas. They are power generation (Production side), power Transmission and

distribution (Supply side) and power consumption (demand side). Proper PMP should

yield good savings in all these three areas. By using PMP at the power generating

stations, it is possible to increase the efficiency of the plant operation resulting in at

least 2% increase in production units. Similarly, through PMP, it has been well

established that at least 7% reduction in T&D losses can be realized. A number of

illustrations cited in the foregoing paragraphs bear testimony to this.

 Percentage of shortage in the power can be made good to a large extent by

proper implementation of PMP in all power utilities and corresponding T&D systems.

The total energy savings mounts to 33.8 million MWh and cost savings works out to

Rs.11,061 crores across the whole country.

(a) This is as good as generating additional power of 6666 MW. This will

bring down the energy shortage to 2.7% from 6.5% at normal load. But

at peak load, the energy shortage will come down to 12.2% from 16%.

(b) The cost of the PMP implementation will usually be paid back within 6

to 12 months. Rather, this cost is very insignificant. The cost savings

through PMP will help many industries to off-set some of their losses

or improve bottom line profits.

 TABLE 1

ENERGY & MONETARY SAVINGS THROUGH PMP :

POWER GENERATION SIDE (1999-2000)

Sl.No. Installed PLF No. of Hrs Total Units

capacity of Plant run of Energy
(MW) (MWh)

1 Without 95500 65.5 7512 469.9

PMP million

2 With PMP 95500 66.8* 7663 + 488.9

million

Total Energy Savings : 18,959,042 MWh

(from column (6))

Total monetary savings : 61,996,067,340 i.e. Rs.6199 Cr @ Rs.3270 per MWh

Equivalent Power generation (EPG) : 3703 MW since energy saved is energy

generated.

Note : * : 2% increase in PLF due to PMP

+ : 2% increase in plant uptime
MW : Mega Watt Power
MWh : Mega Watt Hour = 1000 KWh
PLF : Plant Load Factor
 TABLE 2

ENERGY AND MONETARY SAVINGS THROUGH PMP :

SUPPLY SIDE (T&D) (1999-2000)

Sl.No. Total energy T&D Total energy Energy Cost savings

units generated (Technical) units (MWh) savings (Rs.Crores)
(MWh) losses (%) after T&D
losses

1 2 3 4 5 6

1 488.9 million 22% without 381.0 - -

with PMP PMP in million
implemented at supply side
Generation side

2 488.9 million 20% with 391.0 9.8 million 3197

with PMP PMP in million (1976 MW)
implemented at supply side Power
Generation side also equivalent)

3 488.9 million 18% with 401.0 19.5 million 6394

with PMP PMP in million (3974 MW)
implemented at supply side
Generation side also

Note : It has been projected that India can bring T&D losses to 20% within
next
decade [Jim Bever, (Feb 2000)]. But efforts from all agencies such as
State
Electricity Boards, etc should lead to further reduction in T&D losses
upto 18%.

Equivalent Power generated at 20% T&D losses : 1976 MW

Equivalent Power generated at 18% T&D losses : 3974 MW

 TABLE 3

ENERGY AND MONETARY SAVINGS THROUGH PMP :

CONSUMER SIDE (Demand Side) (1999-2000)

Sl. Installed Total Total Total % Total Savings Savings Savings

No. capacity energy energy energy energy energy in in in
MW generat generat after used by by energy amount Power
(1999- ed ed with account Indus- Indus- through generat
2000) without PMP -ing for try & try & PMP ion
PMP (MWh) T&D Agricul Agricul by 2%
(MWh) losses ture ture (MWh)
at 20% (MWh)
with
PMP
(MWh)
million million Million million million

1 95,500 469.9 488.9 392.0 65% 254.0 5.0 1665 993

Cr MW

Note : Energy used by domestic consumers is not taken into account since PMP
is not expected to be cost effective.
 TABLE 4

POWER SECTOR :

SUMMARY OF ENERGY & MONETARY SAVINGS DUE TO PMP

Savings Generation Supply (at 20% Demand Total

T&D losses)

Energy 18,959,042 9,777,068 5,084,075 33,820,185

(MWh)

Power (MW) 3703 1970 993 6666

Amount (Rs. 6199 3197 1665 11,061

Crore)

Formulae used for conversion from Power to Energy is given by

Energy = Power X PLF% X No. of hours

100

- PLF value used is 66.8

- No. of operating hours per annum : 7763

- Cost of MWh = Rs. 3270/- (i.e. cost of KWh = Rs. 3.27)

 TABLE 5

INFLUENCE OF PMP IMPLEMENTATION ON POWER SECTOR

SCENARIO

Total energy Energy shortage (%)

generated (MWh)

Normal load Peak load

Without PMP 469,894,380 6.5 16

With PMP 488,853,422 2.7 12.2