A Case Study on the Plant Outage in Chilime Hydropow er Plant

May 26

201 0
Prepared By
Amit Bhagat (063BEL302) Arjan Nath Rimal (063BEL 305) Bijen Raj Shrestha (063BEL 307) Nikesh Manandhar (063BEL319) Prasanna Piya (063BEL324)

Submitted To Mr. Shyam Krishna Joshi

A CASE STUDY ON PLANT OUTAGE IN CHILIME HYDROPOWER PLANT

SUBMITTED TO MR. SHYAM KRISHNA JOSHI

SUBMITTED BY
AMIT BHAGAT (302) ARJAN NATH RIMAL (305) BIJEN RAJ SHRESTHA NIKESH MANANDHAR PRASANNA PIYA (307) (319) (324)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, we would like to thank Lord Almighty for everything. We are very glad to have got an opportunity to prepare a case study on Plant Outage in Chilime Hydropower Plant. We would like to express our deep gratitude to Mr. Shyam Krishna Joshi for encouraging us to prepare this report. We are also thankful to Mr. Ram Balal, plant manager of Chilime Hydropower Plant for his support. This case study would not be possible without the helping hand of Mr. Raghavendra Tiwari, Mr. Shaishav Koirala and all the staffs of Chilime Hydropower Plant.

Table of content

 Introduction Chilime Hydropower plant is a peaking run off river type plant constructed and owned by Chilime Hydropower Company Limited. It is located at 133km north of Kathmandu at the right bank of Bhotekoshi River in Rasuwa district. The plant has the installed capacity of 22.56MW and is delivering power of 20 MW as per the PPA agreement with NEA. It is designed to transmit energy of 137 GWh annually through transmission line of 38 km, 66 KV, single circuit from Chilime to Trishuli. The electricity generated form the plant is purchased by NEA at the power house and evacuated as per the PPA agreement made on 11 th Asadh 2054. The annual dimmed energy salable to NEA is 132.9 GWh. During last 6 and half years, the plant has been operating succesfully in terms of meeting generation targets due to its effective observation system and careful preventive maintenance. The power house has very efficient electromechanical equipments and hydraulic structures are in very good condition becouse of their robust design. The Chilime Power Plant has thus, proved itself as the pride of Nepal.

Goal/Objective To make proper use of water resource through generation of electricity. To contribute to the total electrical power in Nepal.

 ORGANIZATION CHART

A CASE STUDY ON PLANT OUTAGE IN CHPP

Objectives

The main objectives of this case study on Plant Outage are To know what factors are responsible for Plant Outage. To find out types of plant outage that has mostly taken place. To know how the repair and maintenance is carried out during outage. To know how the problems (both internal and external) regarding the outage are solved and managed

Introduction to Outage: The power plant project is a huge investment project. It requires a very efficient group of engineers, overseers, technicians, administrative executives, etc for the proper functioning of the power plant project. The administrative executives and the management officers of the power company are dedicated in the well management of the daily operations of the plant. As well as they are also responsible for motivating their employees for efficient functioning. The technicians and engineers are responsible for running the power producing equipments in a good manner so there is less damage during the operation. They keep the generating machine in a very good condition so as to provide a continuous power supply to the consumers. Though a power plant project may be a profit oriented private project, its one of the major goals is to provide a secured power supply to the

consumers. For the proper and sufficient supply of power to the consumers, a highly efficient generation, transmission and distribution system is required. This is only possible through well maintenance of all the power equipments employed in the power house. Very qualified and well dedicated employees are therefore required to keep the plant in good condition. In the process of supplying good quality power to the consumers, the power plant is subjected to various unexpected hindrances. The generating equipments such as generator, power transformer, SCADA system, etc are usually in process of continuous monitoring conditions so that there is less problems in them. However the transmitting equipments such as towers, transmission lines, etc are external to the housing of the plants so they are frequently subjected to unexpected faults. Different types of faults that occur in the plant cause an urgent or non-urgent tripping of the plant. This ceases the smooth flow of power and prevents from supplying efficient service. The outage of the plant is defined as the condition in which the plant is completely shutdown and is unable to supply electric power to its consumer. However, it may happen that only few units out of many units of a single plant may be required for maintenance and should be kept shutdown. This situation may be called as partial outage. The power company may suffer from heavy loss from economic point of view if the plant undergoes outage for a long period of time because the dimmed energy which is the annual energy generation in GWh that has to be supplied by the plant as per the PPA agreement cannot be supplied. Due to this the plant suffers from a huge loss. The reasons for outage of a power plant may be different in many situations. The types of outage that a power plant may face are as follows: Maintenance outage Scheduled outage

Forced outage

Maintenance outage: Maintenance outage of a power plant is necessary when any equipment of the power plant is required to be repaired or replaced. In such conditions all the units or any unit may be required to be shutdown i.e. the plant may go into complete or partial outage. Scheduled outage: There is always provision for scheduled outage in every power plant i.e. some fraction of time of total annual running time is kept for scheduled outage. Usually different parts are checked for any problems in them during scheduled outage. Forced outage: The forced outage is one of the most unwanted forms of outage in any power plant. The plant goes into the forced outage due to any unexpected temporary faults, such as earth faults or over current faults, etc. The power plant company may suffer from a heavy loss if such faults are not quickly cleared as the plant may have to remain in long outage that causes heavy loss of money.

Management
MOTIVATION Productivity of an organization depends upon the people who work in that organization. Given the same inputs, people can produce more if they work more, thus increasing the productivity of the organization. How to make people work more or work better? This is an issue that requires an understanding of what motivates people. One of the main factors determining the productivity is motivation. Motivated people have the desire and willingness to do the job in a better and efficient way.

The process of influencing or stimulating a person to take action by creatin a workin atmosphere wherein the person is satisfied to fulfill his needs, the goals of the organization. Motives are classified as primary and secondary motives. Primary motives are those which serve biological function for organisms. Secondary motives are largely social in nature. Also they are classified as internal and external motives. Internal motives are those which start form the ego needs of the person. External motives arise because of the social and family influences. Motivation is the internal force, may be given in terms of emotions or physical requirement that affect the direction intensity and persistence of a persons voluntary choice of behaviour. Motivation enforces the person to reach his goals and achieve some tagets through some definite amount of effort. Motivation helps in commitment to work. Any systematic analysis of motivation must be connected with how and why people act as they do cause person need money so he works very hard or overtime (goal). Motivation has profound effect on productive and the quality of work. The management has to understand the type of motivation required by their employees and provide such environment of motivation. Types of Motivation
1. Intrinsic motivation: this motivation is related to the ob one is

doing. When a skilled operative performs a job well, he or she derives a sense of satisfaction. Intrinsic motivation satisfies the creative instinct in an individual.
2. Extrinsic motivation: this motivation is external to the job or task.

Praise, recognition etc Motivation and Performance Job performance = f(Ability * Motivation) i.e. f= function of Employee motivation and performance can be developed by :

1. Set standards of performance. 2. Assess the needs and expectations of employees. 3. Formulate reward-punishment system based on wide range of incentives. Direct, guide, control, and lead employees Role of Management The motivation to the workers or employees is given by the management so that they are directed towards meeting the goal of the organization. The primary task of manager is to the creation and maintenance of an environment in which individual work efficiently towards realizing the objectives of organization. The management should establish sound wage system to assure adequate compensation to employees. It should also create purposeful and interesting work environment, job enrichment and enlargement to employees. Theories Of Motivation Maslows Needs of Hierarchy Theory According to this theory, a persons requirement increases as time and fulfillment of lower order needs. The needs are: o Physiological o Safety o Social o Esteem o Self Actualization needs

Alderfers ERG Theory

Human needs are divided into three categories. o Existing needs (Basic and Safety) o Relatedness (Safety and Esteem) o Growth (Self actualization)

McClellands Theory of Learned Needs It focuses on three needs required for motivation. o Need for achievement (Need to achieve a goal) o Need for power (A desire to control environment) o Need for affilliation (A desire to seek approval, conforms and exceptions, positive relationship) MacGregors Theory X, Theory Y It focuses on two different types of behaviour of employees X and Y. X behaviour has inherent dislike of work, lack of ambition and responsibility, avoids decision and is self centered. The management must present themselves as autocratic to motivate such people to work. On the other hand, Y types of people have potential for self development, seek responsibility, desire to achieve goals, etc. So, management must present themselves as democratic, i.e, no more external control or supervision on them ans expand their work. Herbergs Hygiene Factors and Motivation According to this theory, motivation is based on two factors: Hygiene factor and Motivation factors. Hygiene factors lead from reduction of job dissatisfaction to no dissatisfaction. It includes job security, workin condition, etc. The higher level needs corresponds to motivation factors. It makes up a continum leading from non-satisfied to highly satisfied.

 Job Enrichment Rotation and Enlargement Job rotation helps employees learn other tasks and thereby increase their ability to move to jobs where they are needed. Job enlargement refers to increasing the number of tasks employees perform within their job. Job enrichment creates sense if responsiveness in an individual. It provides the atmosphere for an employee to set his goals himself. Through it an employee measure his work himself for improved performance. . Job enrichment can be done by: Increasing job demands Providing work scheduling freedon Increasing a workers accountability Providing feedback Providing new learing experience

Also job enrichment and merit rating motivates to lead people in competitive environment and increase their efficiency.

Organizational Behaviour Organizational behaviour is the study of whar people think, feel and do in around the organization. Organization behaviour scholars try to predict and understand how these behaviour influence organization effectiveness. To study organization behviour 1. Satisfying the need to predict and understand 2. Adopting more accurate theories of reality

3. Controlling organizational events

Organizational behaviour as a multidisciplinary field Organizational behaviour is known as multidisciplinary field because many of its theories, concepts and methods are adopted from other disciplines.

 Personnel Management Personnel management is the phase of management that deals with the utilization and effective control of manpower. By personal administration we enhance the potentialities of employees so that they attain maximum satisfaction from their work and give their best to the organization. Personnel management is concerned with the interrelation ship among employees, their work and the organization. For the success of the organization effective working of the personnel is required which is possible when well being of all individuals is being considered. So Personnel Management is the recruitment, selection, development, utilization of and accommodation to human resources by organization. Personnel management has three aspects. Welfare aspect: Concerned with working conditions, previledge of canteens, housing, school, recreation, addressing the problems to the workers. Personnel aspect: Concerned with recruitment, placement of employees,

promotion, incentives etc.

Industrial relations aspect: Concerned with trade unions negotiations, settlement of industrial bargaining. disputes, joint consultation and collective

Manpower Planning Job analysis Job is a task, duties and responsibilities grouped into packages and given to individual employees.

Job analysis is the process of setting information about jobs, i.e what the workers does, how he gets it done, why he does it, skill, education and training required, relationship to other jobs, physical demands, environmental conditions. Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information related to the operations and responsibilities of a specific job. Job analysis is the process of determining, by observation and study, and reporting pertinent information relating to the nature of a specific job. Job analysis enables managers to understand jobs and job structure to improve to work flow or develop techniques to improve productivity.

Job description Job description is an organized, functional statement of the duties and responsibilities of a specific job. Job description tells us what is to be done, how it is done, and why. Job description involves following: Location of job, Job identification Brief description of overall purpose of the job Duties performed Machine tools Materials required and working conditions

Staffing and employement Hiring procedure of staff is supported by jof analysis, labour budgeting and requirement. Steps of hiring or selecting staff are: Job analysis Identifying what type of employer can perform job perfectly and invite to interested person by advertising the vacancy anncouncement. Collecting application

 Past work reference and educational background.

Interviews test etc.

Wage and Salary structure The money given to the employees on hourly basis is known as wage. Whereas the money given to the employees on monthly basis is known as salary. Factors of wage and salary structure. Ability of organization Supply and demand of labour Existing marked rate Productivity The living wage. Trade unions bargaining power

Performance Appraisals (Judgment) Once employee is selected and trained, he is judged for his performance. It is procedure by which management finds if they have selected right person or not. It evaluates employees performance of a job in terms of its requirements The objective of performance appraisal is to increase the efficiency of organization by utilizing the best of individual employees. The appraisal achieves four objectives: Salary review Training of individuals Job rotation Promotions

Management in CHPP From our study of CHPP it was found that the organization structure of CHPP is very good. Ever since the plant has started, it is running in very a good condition which is possible only because of the good management that exists in site location (Syafrubensi) as well as in corporate office (Gyaneshwor). Basically on site location it is the team work of the staffs that is more focused on. It is because the technical problem that occurs in the site can efficiently be solved only through team work. The team work has made the plant a great success. The team generally comprises of an engineers, few overseers and other helping staffs. Whereas in the main office the administrative work is distributed individually. Each individual has its own work to do. Hence in the office more priority is given to individual work. There is friendly environment between the staffs and the management. There are frequent meeting, programs, discussions and presentation regarding the status of the plant, the economic development and new possible projects that may be launched. It has created a healthy environment of cooperation and coordination among all the members of the company. The efficient communications between the staffs and management has developed good relationship between them thereby making a coordinated environment in the organization.

Annual function of the CHPP is held on Bhadra 8th every year (which is the starting date of the generation) where all the staffs are called for grand gathering and celebration. The process of invitation may be through invitation cards and/or oral. Since the employees are very efficient and the management has trust on them, so close supervision and control isnt required. This friendly environment has created good impression among the staffs and has motivated them to work efficiently. It seems that Herzbergs hygiene motivator theory is applied. There are rewards systems for the staffs who work efficiently. The reward is completely based on their skill and hard work. The rewards include promotion, grade increment, and salary increment. Basically, the staffs on higher post are encouraged by giving felicitation whereas the lower grade staffs are encouraged by giving cash rewards. The company has 25% share in the ordinary public and 25% in staffs. Hence the profit is also shared by the staff members. However, if any staff neglects his work and behaves in against the policy and rules of the organization, there is provision of punishment in the form of written warning, grade lowering, etc. If greater indiscipline are found then their promotion may be stopped. But there is no any case of temporary or permanent suspension found yet. This shows that the management of CHPP and its staffs are working in disciplined environment. For removing the monotonous working environment, provision of job rotation and working in shifts facilities is provided. Also holidays are given at regular intervals. Job evaluation is done through the extent of contribution each individual has given to the organization. The annual evaluation is done by filling a form of job evaluation. In the site location, the plant manager supervises all the daily works and makes decision when required. The personnel management in the CHPP is very efficient. The success of every organization requires good personnel management which can be clearly seen in CHPP. Manpower is organized in different department according to their skill and abilities. If there is need of manpower in any department then the department head reports to the Human Resources Management (HRM) department. The HRM department has the responsibilities to hire the required manpower. They publish the vacancy announcement in the newspaper

and collect the application and call the applicants for the interview. The selection of the best applicant is also the work of HRM. The newly appointed staffs are also sent to training. The training includes hydropower operations, transformer maintenance, generator excitation and protection, protection system etc. The organization also sends the staff for managerial trainings. The managerial training include effective documentation, stress and time management etc. The training may be in the company itself or in any institution, both, in Nepal or abroad Salary for the staffs is given as per rule of the Nepal Government. In addition to this, bonus is also provided to all the staffs according to the profit of the organization. The employees working at the site are also given additional allowances.

Analysis of the outage: The Chilime Hydro Power plant project is designed solely by Nepalese professionals and hence it one of the pride of Nepal. The CHPP seems to have been running well and providing its service to its consumers. Because of its highly efficient and robust electromechanical components, the plant has not been in the maintenance outage for a long period of time. However, there are frequent forced outages. And around 6% scheduled outage is defined for the CHPP. The factors responsible for the outage in the Chilime power plant can be divided into two types, i.e. external and internal factors. The external factors include mainly lightening and landscapes. The internal factors include erosion of turbine, failure of excitation system (in past), problems in AVR, generator insulation failure, etc. The CHPP project is located in a place which is prone to frequent lightening hazards. Hence most of the outage that occurs in CHPP is due to the lightening effects. The high power lightening creates high voltage in the lines which damages the insulator bushing of the towers as well as the lightening arrestors connected to the transmission system. The longest time of outage in CHPP is 25 days which took place in 2061/62. The cause for this outage was falling of tower due to which both units were shut down. The equipments that are under failure are normally

repaired by the technicians from CHPP. However the technicians from India are called in case of failure of some larger equipment. Other causes of the plant outage that the plant has undergone are damage in the AVR and the excitation system.

Recommendations The CHPP has been successful in running its project in well organized way. There has been great contribution by the administrative authorities, the specialized engineers, the technicians and all other staffs of the organization for its proper functioning. However, there are always some weak spots for any organization. Chilime hydropower plant has also some

of its dark sides. Hence, the performance of the plant could be improved if following things could be taken under deep considerations: 1. The power generated by the CHPP is first evacuated to the Trisuli HPP. Therefore, the power for Rasuwa district is then returned from Trisuli HPP. Due to this, there are losses on the transmission lines and the system is prone to faults. The fault on the transmission line plunges the Rasuwa district into darkness although the CHPP could run. If a separate substation for providing power to Rasuwa district could be constructed, the above mentioned problems could have been avoided. 2. For reducing the duration of forced outage, the static relays currently being used should be replaced by much advanced numerical relays. 3. In case of CHPP, the documentation of the procedures for the repair and maintenance of the machineries is lacking. Due to this, failure in any machinery may cause outage for a long duration. So, it is recommended that a good documentation habit should be practiced by every staffs.

Conclusion: The case study on the "outage of the Chilime hydropower project" has helped us know more about the management of a large private organization. The study has given us a deep insight of the organizational

structure and its active functioning parts. The process of motivating staffs in an organization, maintaining cooperative and coordinated environment both at office and/or work site has been known. The methods of taking appropriate decisions and the methods of tackling any problem that may arise unexpectedly were learnt. In this case study, one of the major problems of Chilime hydropower plant, outage of the plant, was taken as the title of study. It was found that there were some major causes of frequent faults in CHPP. In the case study, those major responsible factors were found through questionnaires and analyzed and finally some solutions for reducing the outage were obtained. Few recommendations for improving the performance of the project were also deduced. Hence, this case study was proved to be useful from two different point of view, management and technical.

Appendix Questionnaire

 Motivation

1. How is the working condition? Is it individual or team work? Basically, at the site location it is a team work whereas in

office it is indidual.
2. Are there any theories of motivation applied?

Apparently, Herzbergs Hygiene motivation theory seems to

be applied. 3. Are there any reward system? Yes, there are two types of reward systems. Competency reward (on the basis of skill) Organization reward (by sharing the profit from the organization) All the rewards are individual.

4. Is there any punishment system?

Usually, written warnings are given. Grade is lowered and are stopped if greater indiscipline is found. No

promotions

suspension system is present.

5. Is there provision for job relation?

Yes, job relation is done on employees by shift and daily

maintenance.

6. How is job evaluation done?

Job evaluation is done through the extent of contribution by

each individual. The annual evaluation is done by filling a form of job evaluation.

7. What is the role of leader?

The leader (PM) supervises the daily work of the plant, its

smoothnes, give written warnings, etc

Organizational Behviour

1. How does management know about the feeling and thinking of its manpower towards organization?

There is a friendly environment among the staffs and

management. So, through direct talks, it is possible. Also an annual form is filled about the individuals work and thoughts.

2. How does management focus on workin types such as individual or team?

Basically, since the work is technical at the site, team work is

focused but in office individual work is given more priority.

3. How

does

management

maintain

coordination

and

cooperation among its employees?

There is a friendly environment both in office as well as at the

site. Annual function is held on Bhadra 8th (the day when generation first started) where all the staffs are invited through written or oral invitation. 4. What is the type of control on the employees?

Management

has

trust

on

its

employees.

Very

close

supervision and control is not done as the manpower is very efficient.

5. Has this method create any influence on working?

Due to friendly environment and efficient cooperation and of manpower, the project has been running

coordination

successfully for six and half years from its starting date.

Personnel Management
1. What types of job does employee at different posts have to do?

2. What resposibilties are given to the employee? 3. How are the employee hired?

4. What types of training are given to the employees? 5. What is the salary for different posts? 6. What are the extra facalities given to the employee?
7. What type of relationship exists between the employees?

8. How is the working environment in this organization? 9. How are the employees working abilities judged?

Plant Outage

1. What is a Plant Outage? Plant outage is a problem very often faced by every power

plant. Plant outage refers to the time interval during which the generated energy of the plant cant be delivered because the plant has to be shut down due to various problems arising within and external to the plant.

2. What are the factors responsible for plant outage? There are many factors responsible for plant outage. There

factors responsible for plant outage are mainly internal factors and external factors. The internal factors are: Turbine repair and replacement Governor malfunctioning Feedback problem in AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulator) Generator insulation failure

Likewise, the external factors include: Bushing damage due to lightening strike.

Tower damage due to landslides Breaking of transmission line due to wind

3. What are the ways in which faults occur? The ways in which the faults occur in the plants are as

follows:

Over voltage arising due to external causes such as lightening. Over frequency due to external load and generation unbalance i.e. surplus generation. Insulation failure of stator winding.

4. What is the longest time that your plant has suffered from

outage and what is its cause? The longest time the plant has stayed in outage is 25 days.

The cause for this outage is because the tower fell down due to which both the units were shut down.

5. Who will repair the machines during the outage? In case of machine faults, technicians from India will repair the

faults if needed. Otherwise, a technician here also does the repair works. The thing is that the machines are imported from India. So, the machine specialists are given the prior responsibility. The specialists during their visit to CHPP does repair and maintenance works and side by side the engineers and technicians here are taught what made the normal condition of the equipment go wrong, what are the procedures and precautions that must be taken in repairing them, etc. But the faults in the plant which requires the technicians form India occur rarely. So, if the same fault

occurs, then there is a problem for the engineers here to solve it because there is no documentation of the procedures.

6. Wont it take long to bring the plant under normal condtion if the repair and maintenance works are carried out by the technicians from India? Yes, it will take a long to bring the plant under normal

condition. As mentioned above, there is no any written form of the procedures that has to be carried out to solve it.

7. Besides tower failure, what are the internal faults that the

plant has suffered and what is their duration?

The major internal faults besides tower failure are Governor malfunctioning. Nitrogen bladder damage which resulted in mixing of oil and gas which created problems. It took about 10 days to bring it under normal condition In Ashad 2064, the feedback system in Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR) failed due to which the whole excitation system went wrong. Therefore, the plant had to be shut down for almost 8 days.