The project will create value for hydropower producers through increased revenues resulting from reduced planned and unplanned downtime, as well as lower maintenance costs achieved by extending the useful life of components. In addition, incorporating the effects of new operating patterns into the models will enable project partners to account for the costs associated with increased wear in production planning, thereby supporting better decision-making. Although it is difficult to quantify the value creation of the latter, this aspect will become increasingly important as the share of intermittent renewable energy sources in the energy system grows.
The average age of Norwegian hydropower plants is high. Many components are approaching their expected technical lifetime and will require maintenance or reinvestment in the coming years. More accurate estimation of failure probabilities will contribute to cost savings by reducing unnecessary inspections and lowering the risk of introducing faults during such inspections. Furthermore, components in good condition can continue to operate despite their age, resulting in significant savings through deferred reinvestment and reduced downtime costs.
Greater price volatility and new operating patterns, driven by a changing power system, necessitate that hydropower producers adopt new data-driven methods and tools for asset management. These tools are essential to ensure sound trade-offs between the costs associated with maintenance activities, production losses, delivery reliability, risk of component failure, and the related consequences such as collateral damage, downtime, personal injury, and reputational loss.
Previous research projects (Value-Creating Maintenance in Power Production and MonitorX) developed precisely such methods and tools. This includes tools for estimating failure probabilities and associated tools for comparing the expected net present value of investment alternatives. Hydropower producers have expressed a need to further develop these tools to reflect changes in the industry over the past 15 years, such as increased availability of condition data and new operating patterns. At the same time, this project will build on methods already established in the industry, such as condition ratings and the Condition Monitoring Handbook (tilstandskontrollhåndboka).
Project partners:
- Fornybar Norge
- Sira-Kvina kraftselskap
- NTE Energi
- Hafslund Kraft
- Eviny Fornybar
- SKS Produksjon
- Hydro Energi
- Norconsult Digital
- PA Consulting
- Smartgridsenteret