Abstract
Asset management (e.g. maintenance and reinvestment) strategies are tools to cope with the risk in the distribution network by optimally allocating resources among components, and prioritizing component groups that are more likely to induce larger risk exposure in the system. This report proposes a procedure for categorizing distribution system assets, emphasising the risks the distribution network and its assets are exposed to. The main purpose of such a procedure is to define generic assets, or archetypes, that may represent groups of physical assets with similar characteristics, which presumably will be subject to the same asset management strategy. The categorization process focuses on asset characteristics that reflect the risk exposure, and are relevant when choosing an asset management strategy. Asset categorization is a part of a continuous improvement process and therefore the criteria for asset categorization may be updated based on experience from operation and maintenance of the assets. The report also presents several asset categorization schemes that are currently used in practice in different network companies and organizations in Norway.