Digital platform enables predictive maintenance to enhance reliable operations of critical power assets
Hitachi Energy recently deployed the Lumada Asset Performance Management (APM) software solution for a transformer maintenance project with Inner Mongolia Power, bringing digital insight to enhance the reliable operation of the utility’s assets. This builds on previous collaborations with Hitachi Energy in creating a data platform for the company’s critical power assets and enabling predictive maintenance through the collection and analysis of advanced operational data. The solution is one of the world’s most powerful examples of reliability-centered maintenance, covering 20/220-kilovolt (kV) of transformers within the utility’s service area.
The Inner Mongolia Power company is a state-owned entity managing the central and western grids for this autonomous region of greater China, delivering electricity to the 14 million people across 720,000 sq km span of largely rural areas. Plans to modernize and expand the grid are underway to ensure there is reliable, flexible, and secure electricity supply in the region for the anticipation of more renewable resources. The ability to perform maintenance activities across multiple asset types is also a key aspect of the plan.
Inner Mongolia Power’s “Strategy research and application on reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) of transformer” project is the company’s first pilot RCM project selected by China’s National Energy Administration (NEA). Leveraging research on digital solutions for equipment maintenance, the project aims to enhance the transformer fleet’s reliability and extend its life cycle, ensuring the safe and stable operation of the power system.
“Inner Mongolia Power’s plans to apply digital solutions for modernizing the grid are remarkable examples of the energy transition in action,” said JinQuan Zhang, Executive Vice President and Region head of Greater China for Hitachi Energy. “The data and analytics from APM will not only help inform the approach to reliability-centered maintenance today, but also serve as a basis for how the grid expands and evolves. Hitachi Energy will continue to drive grid digitalization with pioneering solutions and collaborate with customers and partners to build a new power system with new energy as its core in China.”
Piloting and promoting RCM research outcomes is one of the NEA’s key tasks for power safety supervision. The initiative encourages power companies and power equipment manufacturers to adopt scientific hybrid maintenance methods to enhance the reliability management of power equipment and meet the evolving demands of the new power system. Learning from the Lumada APM solution has been integral in informing Inner Mongolia Power’s blueprint for modernizing the grid, as well as ensuring the health and performance of the transformers in operation.
Launched in 2023, the Lumada APM reliability module is a recent addition to Hitachi Energy’s APM software. It utilizes data from production management, supervisory control and date acquisition (SCADA) system and condition monitoring systems to dynamically assess risks using a reliability model in the system. In addition, the module simulates risks of adopting various maintenance strategies for the next 5-10 years and conducts comparative analyses. These help engineers drive risk-based, reliability-centered maintenance, and prioritize maintenance spend.