Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
The power generation market in Europe is evolv- The following offers a detailed discussion of
ing rapidly. CO2-trading regulations have ramped all eight modules — each representing different
up pressure on generators’ cost and cash positions, stages in the quest to reach peak O&M perfor-
and a massive expansion of renewable energy mance in power generation.
sources—mainly wind and photovoltaic solar—
has increased the need for flexibility. New tech- Module 1: O&M Strategy
nologies and a change in customer behavior will The question is no longer if power generators have
push carbon-neutral technologies and foster to adapt their O&M strategies to the changes in the
decentralized power generation. The supply- market, but when. This first module offers a four-
demand dynamics of oil and gas will contribute to pronged approach to crafting an O&M strategy:
a price decoupling between both and lead to more Set the O&M direction. All successful strate-
volatility in power prices. Indeed, a shift from gies begin with a foundation that has room for
energy pricing to capacity-based pricing seems further development. Key decisions are made at this
likely. With these in mind, power generators are point, including determining the degree of in-
beginning to focus on operational excellence—to house capabilities that will be necessary (com-
improve the availability, flexibility, and efficiency pared to other possible options to deliver these
of their plants. capabilities), and gauging the impact O&M has
A.T. Kearney has a framework to help improve on company performance to reach availability tar-
operational performance in the power industry gets. These and other decisions will help manage
(see figure 1 on page 2). Built on eight modules, costs and become the basis for other strategies
we address all possible moves to improve opera- such as maintenance, outsourcing, and the O&M
tions and maintenance (O&M). By following information technology (IT) setup.
a pre-defined roadmap and taking all relevant steps, Gain a maintenance-specific view. Best-in-
we have helped our clients achieve immediate class maintenance strategies are always consistent
O&M cost improvements of 15 to 25 percent, plus across both the system and subsystem levels.
5 percent in savings when considering a slightly Within this module, it is important to have a clear
increased risk level regarding plant availability. view of how strong O&M currently is and how
ion structures
• Develop organization structure
es • Create detailed process map based on RASIC
uirements and
• Determine HR requirements an
nd • Define process interfaces
job descriptions O&M O&M • Designate stages of excellence
organization processes
• Develop IT system
architecture O&M
• Identify best practices IT system setup Note: O&M = operations and maintenance
from peer comparison Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
Fluid and
cooling systems a mutual understanding of operations and main-
Control and
instrumentationn tenance tasks, fosters communication between
systemss
C D the teams, and often speeds up O&M strategy
Electrical development and planning.
Outsourcing, components
but controlling
capabilities Take, for example, our recent work for
in-house Heat recovery system
He
B generator components
ge a European utility. The leadership team wanted to
improve O&M costs and power plant availability
Powertrain for its conventional generation unit — consisting
A of lignite-fired, hard-coal-fired, gas-fired, and
In-house capabilities and know-how nuclear power plants.
Source: A.T. Kearney analysis Finding little cooperation or transparency
across power plants — and especially across
divisions — success, we soon decided, would
soon as possible, are common. In Europe, such require a cultural transformation. We began by
teams are still rare. designing a cross-divisional organization in which
Some large-scale utilities have managed to processes, responsibilities, and structures were all
reduce working capital and operational costs aligned. Working closely with the company, rele-
substantially after introducing a shared ware- vant data was consolidated, budgets and planning
house for several plants. A dedicated warehouse were aligned, and an incentive system was
strategy can help define which spare parts should launched to encourage collaboration among the
be managed and stored locally or centrally. Of plants and divisions. Change management was
course, the value of sharing warehouses depends the tool of choice in getting everyone’s buy-in,
on the geographic distribution of the fleet and especially top management and the engineers;
how diverse and focused its technology is. both groups would be crucial to success. We cal-
Indeed, several other factors are in play in the culated the potential tangible results, established
decision, including which components are cov- an implementation plan for rollout, and launched
ered by service agreements, lead time, compo- two pilots. To date, the company’s overall savings
nent value, logistics costs, and local import and on O&M costs are in the 10 percent range.
export issues.
Our framework allows for defining a tailor- Module 3: O&M Processes
made O&M organization that works across all One major step toward operational excellence
levels. It considers several aspects: the generation is maximizing the effectiveness of O&M processes.
fleet, technologies, geographic footprint, strategic An O&M process map for power generation forms
Figure 5
A focused O&M strategy results in more uptime and significantly fewer losses due to failure
Calendar Planned Losses due Operating Calendar Planned Losses due Operating
time (h) downtime (h) to failure (h) time (h) time (h) downtime (h) to failure (h) time (h)
Note: O&M = operations and maintenance Source: A.T. Kearney analysis
Figure 7
Corrective and preventive maintenance (CPM) processes
Steering Documen-
Strategy Planning CPM execution and tation and Optimization
development control reporting
Figure 8
Life-cycle costs (LCC) stages of excellence
System complexity
Stage
4
Stage
3 • Deploy cross-plant LCC
model, including develop-
ing scenarios
Stage
• Calculate LCC for entire • Fully automated (based
2 plant, considering main on data availability and
interdependencies transparency)
Stage
• Calculate LCC for a com- • Begin developing
1 plex unit, considering scenarios
main interdependencies • Partly automated
• Calculate LCC for one • Partly automated
asset or decision
• Not automated
Figure 9
The development of life-cycle costs and risk
Cost-level 1 Cost-level 2
(LCC and risk development) (LCC and risk development)
LCC Risk LCC
CC Risk
s
Ri
Risk
LCC
Riskk
Ris LCC
Figure 10
Scenarios evaluate maintenance measures and LCC costs at the system and sub-system level
1,500
1,000
500
0
Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
2,000
Time
Scope
1,500
1,000
500
0
Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
1,200 Time
Scope
900
600
300
0
Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
D
B
Future end, the company not only met its aggressive
A timeline but also its full implementation budget,
and was reaping the rewards of an advanced
O&M system.