Collaboration between Utilities and Manufacturers for Sustainable Operation and Maintenance of Ageing Substation Equipment

As a result, continuing conventional maintenance practices, which assume that manufacturers will supply spare parts and dispatch technical personnel, has become increasingly challenging.

Against this background, the authors have established a collaborative framework between the utility and the manufacturer.

First, a “Renewal Simulation Tool” was developed to visualise the replacement schedule for each asset based on series-specific information, such as the availability of spare parts, the possibility of dispatching technical personnel, operational status, and records of equipment failures. This tool clarifies the timing of asset renewal while considering constraints such as investment limits, construction capacity, and outage restrictions, thereby enabling users to determine how long the equipment of a given type series will remain in service.

Subsequently, the user and the manufacturer have been engaging in collaborative discussions to implement measures including responses to the discontinuation of spare parts supply and technical support, securing verification facilities by retaining decommissioned equipment to provide facilities for fault investigation, and leveraging accumulated knowledge to ensure accurate root cause analysis.