Understanding Maintenance and Repair Services for Power Plants

Power plants provide electricity that powers everything from our morning coffees to critical hospital equipment. But how do these massive facilities run? How much effort goes into their maintenance and repair services?

Power plants typically allocate 20-60% of their operating budget just to maintenance and repair. [1] What’s the situation like at your facility?

Every manager dreams of cutting costs, but you’re probably afraid it will result in costly repairs that surpass initial savings.

But is that really how it must be?

There is a way to optimize repair and maintenance that doesn’t result in unexpected breakdowns, downtime, and expensive repairs. And we’ll explore how these services impact your financial performance, break down the associated costs, and detail the different types of maintenance and repair activities essential for the smooth operations of power plants. 

How Maintenance and Repair Services Influence Your Bottom Line

When there are so many things going on in a facility, it’s hard to keep track of financial health. And we’re sure there is hardly any facility that’s more eventful than a power plant. 

Sure, take care of the budget for different aspects, but can you pinpoint exactly how maintenance and repair influence your bottom line?

Reducing Downtime and Avoiding Costly Breakdowns

Unplanned downtime can be incredibly expensive. And that’s not just true for power plants. It’s true for most industries. The thing is that for power plants, that number can easily reach up to $2.48 million PER HOUR. ^[2]

How much does downtime cost per minute in your power plant? If you’re curious, here is the formula:

Downtime Cost = Minutes of Downtime x Cost per Minute

As you can see, for power plants, the impact on your bottom line is more severe than in other industries, usually due to the nature of your operations. 

The good thing is that regular maintenance and repair services can certainly help you avoid unplanned costs associated with downtime, because you’ll avoid costly repairs and extended outages.

The only question is, what is it worth it to you?

Read our breakdown maintenance guide and deal with unexpected failures like a pro!

Optimizing Operational Efficiency

When you perform maintenance and repair services, all of your systems and equipment run at optimal performance levels. In contrast to downtime, you can’t really pinpoint the cost of operational “inefficiency.”

But the truth is, it drains the money out of your budget whether you see it or not. 

Efficiently operating equipment uses less energy, which leads to significant cost savings. For instance, a well-maintained gas turbine can operate at higher efficiency, reducing fuel consumption and lowering operational costs.

Extending Equipment Lifespan

Is it the same for you if you have to change generators every two or every 10 years?

We bet it isn’t. But to extend the lifespan of your equipment, you have to invest in routine maintenance, and smaller repairs before they become critical equipment failures. The goal is for your power plant to defer these large expenses, and get more value out of your existing assets.

Compliance with Regulations

Regulations are here to protect you, your employees, the environment, and your power plant as a whole. That’s why you have to pay special attention to staying compliant. If you want to meet those standards, avoid fines and shutdowns – regular maintenance and timely repairs are a significant part of the process. 

For example, adhering to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations requires continuous monitoring and maintenance of emission control systems.

Real-Life Example

In 2018, Granite Falls Energy implemented LLumin CMMS+ to automate its maintenance operations. The customizable and user-friendly platform allowed them to integrate all their maintenance activities, from work order tracking to inventory management.

The new system automated the management of approximately 300 preventive maintenance work orders each month, eliminating the need for manual recordkeeping and reducing the administrative burden on maintenance technicians.

Maintenance technicians could access safety documentation for each asset directly within the system, ensuring compliance with safety regulations and reducing the risk of accidents. The integrated platform facilitated better communication and data sharing among departments, ensuring everyone had access to up-to-date information.

With LLumin CMMS+, Granite Falls Energy could accurately track nearly 5,600 assets. The system provided visual reporting and trend analysis, enabling the maintenance team to monitor equipment health and predict failures before they occurred.

Plus, the implementation of LLumin CMMS+ led to substantial improvements in maintenance efficiency and cost savings for Granite Falls Energy:

• Reduction in Unplanned Downtime: By leveraging predictive maintenance tools and scheduling regular maintenance activities, Granite Falls Energy reduced its unplanned downtime by 30%. This improvement minimized disruptions to their operations and boosted overall productivity.
• Cost Savings: The proactive maintenance approach resulted in millions of dollars in savings over five years. Automated parts reorder utilities and efficient asset management reduced unnecessary expenses and optimized resource allocation.
• Enhanced Operational Reliability: The ability to track and analyze maintenance data allowed Granite Falls Energy to maintain high operational reliability. Accurate and accessible reporting helped them identify potential issues early and address them promptly, preventing costly repairs and extended downtimes.

How Much Money Do Power Plants Spend on Maintenance and Repair Services?

You probably budget for repair and maintenance services based on historical data, right? But what are all the aspects you need to cover in order to determine the budget, and how do you make sure you don’t go over? 

Annual Maintenance Budgets for Power Plants

The annual maintenance budget for a typical power plant can range from several million to tens of millions of dollars, depending on the size and type of plant.

For instance, a medium-sized coal-fired power plant might spend around $5 million annually on maintenance, while a large nuclear plant could see maintenance costs exceeding $20 million per year. These figures include routine inspections, preventive maintenance programs, corrective repairs, and predictive maintenance activities.

Breakdown of Maintenance Costs

Maintenance costs can be broadly categorized into several key areas:

Preventive Maintenance	Regular, scheduled maintenance tasks designed to prevent equipment failures. This includes activities such as lubrication, calibration, and routine inspections.
Corrective Maintenance	Repairs performed after equipment has failed. This often involves significant labor and parts costs, especially if the failure is severe.
Predictive Maintenance	Using advanced monitoring tools and data analytics to predict equipment failures before they occur. This can involve substantial upfront costs for sensors and software but can lead to significant long-term savings.
Labor Costs	The salaries and wages of maintenance personnel, including technicians, engineers, and support staff. Labor costs can account for a large portion of the maintenance budget, especially in facilities with complex and extensive systems.
Parts & Supplies	The cost of spare parts, tools, and consumables required for maintenance activities. Efficient inventory management is crucial to minimizing these costs without risking downtime due to parts shortages.

Factors Influencing Maintenance Expenses

But what are the factors that determine whether you’ll stay within the budget or go over it? Or maybe even save some money on maintenance and repair services?

Age of Equipment

Older equipment generally requires more frequent and extensive maintenance, leading to higher costs. It’s up to you to determine whether it’s worth investing in repair and maintenance or if it would pay off in the long run to replace equipment, piece by piece. 

Operational Intensity

Power plants operating at or near full capacity may experience more wear and tear, increasing maintenance needs.

Technology

Investments in advanced predictive maintenance tools and automation can initially raise maintenance costs but often result in long-term savings.

What Is Maintenance?

Maintenance in the context of power plants refers to the systematic care and upkeep of equipment, machinery, and infrastructure to make sure everything works efficiently, safely and reliably. 

It consists of a wide range of activities that all work together toward preventing failures, protecting your assets with maintenance management, optimizing performance and avoiding downtime.

Working at a power plant means you need to understand all these different aspects of maintenance service, and how they help you maintain high standards of safety and efficiency. 

Key Objectives of Maintenance Services

Extend Asset Lifespan	By keeping equipment in good working condition, maintenance activities can significantly extend the life of critical components, avoiding expensive replacements.
Improve Safety	Maintenance ensures that all equipment operates safely, protecting both the plant personnel and the surrounding environment from potential hazards.
Compliance	Regular maintenance helps power plants comply with industry standards and regulatory requirements, avoiding fines and legal issues.

Types of Maintenance Activities

Type	Description	Example
Inspections	Routine checks performed at scheduled intervals to ensure equipment is operating correctly and identify potential issues.	Inspecting boiler pressure levels and turbine performance.
Lubrication	Applying lubricants to moving parts to reduce friction and wear, which is crucial for smooth operation.	Lubricating pumps and motors.
Cleaning	Removing dust, dirt, and contaminants from equipment to maintain performance and prevent overheating.	Cleaning air filters and fan blades.
Calibration	Ensuring equipment operates within specified parameters by adjusting control settings or calibrating sensors.	Calibrating sensors in production machines.
Part Replacements	Replacing worn-out or faulty components to maintain equipment integrity and efficiency.	Replacing worn belts and bearings.

Different Types of Maintenance Services

Preventive Maintenance

Preventive maintenance involves regularly scheduled tasks aimed at preventing equipment failures before they occur. This type of maintenance is proactive and based on a set schedule, such as daily, weekly, monthly, or annually, depending on the equipment and its usage.

Predictive Maintenance

Predictive maintenance uses advanced technologies to monitor the condition of equipment and predict when maintenance should be performed. This approach relies on data collected from sensors and other monitoring devices to anticipate failures before they happen.

Reactive Maintenance

Corrective maintenance, also known as reactive maintenance, involves repairing equipment after a failure has occurred. While this type of maintenance is necessary for addressing unexpected issues, it is typically more costly and disruptive compared to preventive or predictive maintenance.

Condition-Based Maintenance

Condition-based maintenance involves monitoring the actual condition of equipment to determine the need for maintenance. This approach uses real-time data to make informed decisions about when maintenance should be performed rather than relying on a fixed schedule.

How LLumin flags and fixes issues in real time

What Are Repair Services?

Repair services in power plants involve the restoration of equipment and systems to their operational state after a failure or malfunction. Unlike preventive or predictive maintenance, which aims to prevent issues before they occur, repair services are reactive, addressing problems that have already caused downtime or reduced efficiency.

Key Aspects of Repair Services

Diagnosis and Troubleshooting	The first step in any repair service is diagnosing the problem. This involves troubleshooting the equipment to identify the root cause of the failure. Technicians may use various diagnostic tools and techniques to pinpoint the issue accurately.
Replacement of Faulty Components	Once the problem is diagnosed, the next step is to replace or repair the faulty components. This can range from simple part replacements to complex overhauls of major equipment.
Testing and Verification	Involves running the equipment under normal operating conditions and monitoring its performance to verify the repair’s effectiveness.
Documentation and Reporting	This includes recording the details of the failure, the actions taken to repair it, and any parts or materials used. Accurate records help in future troubleshooting and maintenance planning.

But how does it look in real life?

If a generator fails, technicians use multimeters to check electrical connections, thermal cameras to detect overheating components, and vibration analyzers to identify mechanical faults.

Once the problem is diagnosed, they replace the part that was causing the malfunction. After repairing a generator, they run it to check for stable power output and proper functioning of all its components. When they’ve done the most important part, it’s time to log the details of a generator repair, including the cause of the failure, the parts replaced, and the results of post-repair testing.

Different Types of Repair Services

Repair services are categorized based on the nature and scope of repairs. 

Emergency Repairs

Emergency repairs are immediate actions taken to address critical failures that can cause significant operational disruptions or safety hazards. These repairs are unplanned and require a swift response to minimize downtime and mitigate risks.

Corrective Repairs

Corrective repairs involve addressing known issues that have been identified during routine inspections or as part of predictive maintenance. These repairs are planned and scheduled based on the urgency and impact of the failure.

Major Overhauls

Major overhauls are extensive repair operations that involve significant disassembly, inspection, and refurbishment of critical equipment. These repairs are typically scheduled during planned outages or maintenance shutdowns.

Minor Repairs

Minor repairs are small-scale fixes that can be quickly addressed without significant downtime or resource allocation. These repairs are often handled during regular maintenance activities.

The Differences Between Maintenance and Repair Services

While you can’t really avoid either maintenance or repair, it’s clear you need to choose where to put most of your effort. While these services both serve different purposes and you perform them in different contexts, they vary in costs and outcomes, especially regarding the effectiveness and longevity of your equipment. 

Let’s sum up the differences between the two, and you’ll know which road to take:

Purpose

Maintenance is proactive, and it makes sure operations at your power plant run continuously, effectively and safely. The purpose of maintenance is to maintain the performance and reliability of equipment, extend its lifespan, and minimize the risk of unplanned downtime.

Repair is reactive rather than proactive compared to maintenance services. When failures happen, technicians perform reactive activities to restore equipment to its operational state as quickly and efficiently as possible. When you choose to repair, you can’t avoid downtime and costs associated with it. You can only control, to a certain extent, how much it will last. 

Timing

Maintenance Services	Maintenance activities are performed on a regular, scheduled basis. They are planned and carried out periodically, often based on manufacturer recommendations, usage patterns, or predictive maintenance data. Can be daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually, depending on the specific equipment and maintenance plan.
Repair Services	Repair activities are performed as needed, in response to equipment failures or malfunctions. They are typically unplanned and require immediate attention to address the issue and minimize downtime. Occurs whenever a failure or malfunction is detected, which can be unpredictable and vary widely.

Cost

Maintenance is generally more cost-effective in the long run. Regular maintenance helps prevent major failures, reducing the need for expensive emergency repairs and extending the lifespan of equipment.

The cost involves regular, predictable expenses for routine tasks, labor, and minor parts replacement. Repairs can be more costly and disruptive, especially if they involve major equipment failures or extended downtime. Emergency repairs often require expedited shipping of parts, additional labor, and potentially costly downtime.

The cost can be unpredictable and high, particularly for significant failures that require extensive work or replacement of major components.

Operational Impact

Maintenance has a positive impact on power plants and their financial stability, as it helps maintain consistent performance and reduces the likelihood of operational disruptions. Proper maintenance minimizes the risk of unexpected failures, everything runs smoothly and without interruptions.

On the other hand, while necessary, repairs can cause significant disruptions to operations, especially if the failure is severe or affects critical systems. Quick and effective repairs are essential to minimize downtime and resume normal operations.

The impact of repairs on power plants is always negative; the question is just how much. When you don’t perform repairs on time, they have a greater negative impact.

Conclusion

Maintenance and repair services help power plant managers with two burning problems: operational efficiency and financial health. You could operate profitability for months, but sometimes, only one breakdown makes it all go to waste. 

Maintenance and repair services are here to make sure that doesn’t happen. But at power plants, time is of the essence. If you want to optimize your maintenance and repair services and see their benefits ASAP, there is one unique solution for power plants. 

LLumin CMMS + takes care of preventive, predictive and condition-based maintenance and repair services for power plants by reducing the need for manual labor and automating repetitive tasks. 

Schedule your free software demo and take the first step towards experiencing the benefits of effective maintenance and repair services and get similar or better results than the client we’ve mentioned, Granite Falls Energy.

We’ve got even more case studies that will give you a clear overview of the benefits our software brings to the table. If you’re not sure it’s the right choice, let our clients’ results convince you otherwise. 

Predict, Plan, Prevent. Choose LLumin. Schedule a free demo

Frequently Asked Questions 

What are repair and maintenance services?

Repair and maintenance services involve activities designed to keep equipment and systems functioning efficiently and to restore them to working order after a failure. Maintenance is proactive, aimed at preventing breakdowns, while repair is reactive, addressing issues after they occur.

What is an example of maintenance and repair?

An example of maintenance is regularly inspecting and lubricating a turbine to ensure it operates smoothly. An example of repair is fixing a broken turbine blade that has caused the turbine to stop working.

What is considered a maintenance repair?

A maintenance repair involves minor fixes and adjustments made during regular maintenance activities to address wear and tear or small defects before they lead to significant failures, such as tightening loose bolts or replacing a worn-out gasket.

What is the difference between cleaning and maintenance and repairs?

Cleaning involves removing dirt, dust, and contaminants to ensure optimal equipment performance, while maintenance includes routine tasks to prevent failures and repairs, address equipment malfunctions, and restore functionality. Cleaning is typically a part of regular maintenance activities.