Preventive Maintenance Examples: Power Plant Edition

Smooth operations and maintenance are the heart and soul of a power plant. The best of the best power plants would crumble under the weight of their power-generating capabilities if they aren’t maintained properly, and that’s an engineer’s worst nightmare.

Preventative maintenance is needed for a power plant’s continued and worry-free functioning. After all, unplanned outages and repairs can be too expensive. Research conducted by the ABB group shows that an eight-hour outage can cost a business a whopping $1 million. It’s safe to say that’s not ideal for any business. 

In this post, we’ll look at preventive maintenance examples and the most effective tips for keeping your power plant running at its best.

What Is Preventive Maintenance for Power Plants?

Preventative maintenance of power plants is a term that includes all the procedures required to keep a power plant up and running. It refers to planned and systematic inspection, servicing, and upkeep of equipment and machinery to prevent potential failures.

Power plants operate under high pressures and temperatures, and failure of critical components can lead to disaster, endangering the staff, nearby environment, and people. By performing preventative maintenance, you ensure a plant operates at its maximum potential without compromising safety and regulations. The goal is to identify risks early on, take justified risks where needed, and keep everything functional so simple issues do not escalate into major problems.

The basics of preventive maintenance for power plants include part replacement, oil analysis, cleaning, meeting regulations and compliance requirements, and applying preventive maintenance best practices. These tasks should be scheduled under the guidance of a maintenance engineer or according to the manufacturer’s guidelines. 

While it initially requires an investment of resources, time, and money, its long-term returns are well worth the effort. It increases the lifespan of your equipment, avoids emergency repair costs, and leads to predictable and manageable maintenance budgets.

Types of Preventive Maintenance in Power Plants

Multiple kinds of preventive maintenance are applied in power plants, each serving its unique role in the grand scheme of things. 

They include:

• Time-Based Maintenance (TBM): This is a fairly straightforward form of maintenance that’s done at a regular interval – say, every week. As useful and effective as TBM is, it can sometimes lead to overkill. For example, a part may be scheduled to be replaced every month instead of being inspected further and determining whether or not it should be replaced based on its actual condition.
• Usage-Based Maintenance (UBM): Picking up from where we left off, UBM fixes the obvious flaw in TBM; it replaces a part when it needs changing. The maintenance interval for it is determined based on history, patterns, data, manufacturer guidelines, and thorough inspection. For example, a turbine might be inspected after 4000 hours of operation, and a decision to put it under UBM can be determined from the report generated from said inspection.
• Predictive Maintenance (PdM): Predictive maintenance is performed by tracking the performance and other areas of the equipment. Its condition can be monitored by analytics tools (for example, using LLumin’s CMMS+) and other technologies such as vibration analysis, thermal imaging, and oil analysis.
• Condition-based Maintenance (CBM): This is useful when you want to perform maintenance only when certain indicators show a decrease in performance or when a failure is about to happen.
• Risk-Based Maintenance (RBM): Consider this a “we can’t risk that” situation. Risk-based maintenance prioritizes equipment maintenance that, if it stops working, can halt production and has the highest risk and impact on the power plant. 

Examples of Preventive Maintenance in Power Plants

Now that we know why preventive maintenance is essential for power plants, let’s take a look at how well it translates into real-world usage. 

Example 1: Gas Power Plant in Nigeria

A study conducted by Sunday Olayinka Oyedepo and Fagbenle Richard Olayiwola shows the transformative impact of preventive maintenance at Nigeria’s Egbin Thermal Power Plant.^[1]

They found that preventive maintenance isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a game-changer. The Egbin power plant, a 1320 MW thermal power giant, saw incredible improvements in reliability and availability. They focused on proactive inspections, servicing, and timely repairs, which is necessary for a plant of this scale.

The data, covering 2005 to 2009, highlighted some great results. For example, unit availability rates varied but showed significant improvements, with some units reaching over 90% availability – a contrast to the previous unreliable performance.

In addition, they minimized downtime by fixing common problems, such as steam leaks and gas supply disruptions, before they turned into major issues. This proactive approach slashed maintenance-related costs and extended the lifespan of critical components, ensuring the plant could meet Nigeria’s growing electricity demands.

Example 2: Flexible Printed Circuits in Malaysia

Researchers from Universiti Sains Malaysia studied how preventive maintenance can help reduce machine downtime in a semiconductor company in Penang, Malaysia.^[2] The company makes flexible printed circuits (FPC), and despite having a maintenance schedule, they still experienced a lot of machine breakdowns.

The researchers found that the company needed a better way to handle maintenance. They decided to focus on the most important machines and give them more attention. By doing regular checks and fixing issues before they become big problems, they were able to keep these critical machines running smoothly.

Before the new schedule, April was a terrible month with the highest downtime. After the changes, things improved a lot. The critical machines had fewer breakdowns, and the technicians could do their jobs more efficiently because they weren’t overwhelmed with unnecessary maintenance tasks.

Overall, the study showed that the company could keep things running smoothly and reduce unexpected breakdowns by focusing on preventive maintenance for the most important machines. This simple strategy made a big difference in keeping production on track and making the technicians’ jobs easier.

Example 3: Enel Green Power in Italy

Enel Green Power used predictive maintenance to predict problems before they happened and kept their hydropower plants running smoothly in Italy.^[3]

One day, their preventive system noticed that a generator’s temperature was rising unusually. Even though it hadn’t reached a dangerous level yet, the system flagged it as a potential problem. The plant operators checked it out and found it was indeed a serious issue that could have caused a shutdown. Because they caught it early, they fixed the problem quickly and saved between €25,000 and €100,000.

This smart maintenance approach didn’t just prevent one problem; it showed how effective predictive maintenance can be. Now, Enel Green Power uses this system in over 700 of their plants worldwide, keeping everything running efficiently and preventing costly breakdowns.​

5 Key Areas of a Preventive Maintenance Schedule

An effective preventive maintenance schedule keeps the equipment and machinery in great working condition, so it’s necessary to create one. Keep the following components in mind while creating your own:

1. Put the Equipment in a Box

Not literally, but you need to identify and categorize each crucial component within your inventory. They can be categorized based on their type, such as usage frequency and criticality. Prioritize components that are essential for operations. Once the categories are well defined, inspect each component thoroughly. 

2. Plan Out the Job

Equipment used in power plants must be repaired/maintained based upon the guidelines of the manufacturer – no compromises here. With the help of your maintenance engineer, industry practices, and manufacturer recommendations, document all the necessary tools and procedures. This document should include the time when maintenance should be performed, what is needed for it, and how to do it.

Pro Tip: Create a preventive maintenance checklist to make the job easier.

3. Establish a Routine

Two types of scheduling are necessary for complete maintenance: short-term and long-term. The category into which a task must be placed can be established based on the equipment’s criticality and maintenance needs. Long-term goals range from monthly, quarterly, and annually, whereas short-term goals can be performed daily, for example, cleaning. Combining the two schedules keeps the equipment running at max capacity and prolongs its life.  

4. A Proactive Culture 

Don’t wait around for disaster to strike – precaution is better than cure. Develop a proactive culture where there’s an open line of communication within the plant and issues are brought to your attention comfortably. Provide staff with the required training and ensure everybody involved in the plant understands its criticality, as it’s important to know how to plan a preventive maintenance inspection.

5. Utilize Technology

Manual documentation and scheduling have been the norm for years, but with the introduction of technology, such as a CMMS, power plants can greatly benefit from it. CMMS solutions make various tasks easier, as they can also help automate task scheduling, provide real-time task progress, and manage maintenance data.

We recommend using LLumin CMMS+, our power plant maintenance software. It gives you a centralized database from which you can improve your shutdown operations planning and scheduling, reduce downtime, and increase equipment lifespan and reliability.

Don’t wait for a costly breakdown to realize the importance of preventive maintenance.  Start planning now, and keep your machines—and your business—running at their best. Schedule a free software demo

Common Equipment That Need Preventive Maintenance

Preventive maintenance is pretty broad, as there are various components to take into account. Let’s have a look at the common components (or equipment) that need preventive maintenance:

• Mechanical Systems: These are the machinery and moving parts in a power plant, such as generators, pumps, and turbines. Their preventative measures would include lubrication, alignment checks, vibration analysis, cleaning, and replacing parts due to wear and tear.
• Electrical Systems: Preventive maintenance for electrical systems would include circuit breaker and insulation tests, infrared thermography to detect hot spots and loose connections as well as cleaning and tightening of cables and connections. 
• Cooling Systems: Having your cooling systems break down can be extremely dangerous for both the workforce and the equipment, as there won’t be any means to control the heat. It would require inspecting pumps, cooling towers, cleaning, and water treatment.
• Instrumentation and Control Systems (I&C): The purpose of I&C is to ensure safety and smooth operations. Maintaining them requires calibration of sensors and transmitters, software updates and backup, verification of functionality, cleaning, and testing. 
• Boilers and Turbines: These are the core components of a power plant and are used when fuel is burned to generate steam. They must be inspected for corrosion, damage, water chemistry monitoring, and any replacement if required.

How LLumin Can Help Power Plants With Preventive Maintenance

All the steps you take for power plants’ preventive maintenance require extensive documentation. Schedules must be created, reports need to be made, and data regarding equipment must be collected, stored, analyzed, and monitored. Doing all of this manually, without any help of technology isn’t the smartest decision.

Fortunately, decisions can be changed. In this case, you can use LLumin’s CMMS+, which can help you ​​manage power plants, save costs, maximize labor resources, and ensure stress-free maintenance management. 

Here are some of the many benefits of using our software:

• It can help you reduce overall downtime by 35%
• It can help you increase machine lifespan by 35%
• It can help you manage purchase orders
• It can help you manage asset life cycle and risk of failure
• It can help you transition from preventive maintenance to predictive maintenance

We’ve helped numerous companies worldwide with different types of maintenance, including preventive, predictive, and proactive. For example, one of our users, Granite Falls Energy (GFE), was sinking due to an outdated maintenance system that relied on manual and inefficient processes.

After using LLumin’s CMMS+, the company was able to track trends like bearing temperatures easily to boost efficiency and reduce costs. Moreover, their safety protocols improved with accessible documentation, and compliance was enhanced with better reporting features.

Interested in achieving similar efficiency? Businesses worldwide use LLumin CMMS+ to manage their asset audits better, and you can, too. Request a demo of our software to get started.

Closing Thoughts

Preventive maintenance is absolutely necessary in power plants to ensure efficiency and reliability. It helps you spot potential issues and pounce on them before they cause a bigger threat, which could lead to a domino of issues. 

It’s not the most straightforward task, but you can make it simple by using a solution like LLumin’s CMMS+. It’ll help you shift the entirety of the process to the system and have a centralized view of what needs to be done to ensure your power plant is working in top condition. 

Request a demo today!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is included in preventive maintenance?

Preventive maintenance includes scheduled inspections, cleaning, lubrication, adjustments, parts replacement, documentation, reporting, testing, and calibration as well as training.

What are the 7 elements of preventive maintenance?

The seven elements of preventive maintenance are testing, servicing, calibration, inspection, adjustment, alignment, and installation.

What are the 4 steps of preventive maintenance?

The four steps of preventive maintenance are planning, inspecting, execution, and reporting. Collectively, these steps help you determine what equipment requires maintenance, detect early signs of damage, create a schedule, and document the changes.

What is an example of planned maintenance?

An example of planned maintenance would be that of cooling towers and associated systems to ensure effective heat diversion in hot summers.