IMPORTANCE OF PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE IN ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT

Did you know that unplanned power outages caused by equipment failure can cost electricity distribution companies and consumers millions of dollars annually? For many consumers, these losses are not just financial; these outages also disrupt critical services. These impacts highlight the role and importance of reliability and maintenance of electrical assets.

1.The Growing Demand for Reliable Grids & Aging Infrastructure

Before diving into equipment reliability in the electricity grids, let us explore the factors that have led to increased electricity demand and the need for reliable grids. They are:

• Massive urbanization: With more people moving to the cities, the demand for housing infrastructure surges, making the urban centers major hubs for electricity demand.
• Industrialization: The rapid expansion of industrial zones, especially in emerging economies, has significantly increased electricity demand as nations strive for economic growth.
• Digitalization: The need for reliable power has increased in the economies undergoing digital transformation driven by automation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and data centers.
• Electrification: Electrification in transportation, industrial processes, and residential applications such as heating translates into high demand for energy-intensive infrastructure.

Keeping the above tailwinds in perspective, the value chain of electricity becomes more complicated when we factor in the integration of renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

2. Reliability in Critical Sites Amid Aging Infrastructure Challenges

Critical services such as hospitals, emergency services, data centers, etc., not only rely on an uninterrupted electricity supply for their operation but also have their own power distribution infrastructure. Shutdown of these services due to any electrical equipment failure or fault can disrupt essential services, leading to life-threatening delays or critical data loss. Ensuring the reliability of equipment powering up these facilities is paramount in preventing significant social and economic repercussions.

Clubbed with aging infrastructure, the problem gets increasingly complicated posing significant challenges to maintaining efficiency and stability of power grids. To demonstrate the scale of the problem, let us take the example of the country with one of the oldest grids in the world, i.e., the US, where more than 70% of the grid infrastructure, including transformers, has been functional for nearly three decades. Electricity grids with such an old infrastructure are likely to operate at lower efficiency levels, and the wear of components over time puts them at risk of failure, leading to partial or complete shutdown of the facility.

3.Asset Management & Preventive Maintenance: A Strategic Approach to Grid Reliability

Engineers must ensure that the electrical equipment works optimally. In addition, they must keep track of any anomalies to prevent failures. Asset management allows equipment operators and owners to remotely gather and analyze diagnostic data from a range of critical equipment like transformers without causing any interruptions in the equipment functionality.

Upgrading existing equipment to IoT-enabled models is crucial for effective asset management and extending

project life cycles. By integrating real-time monitoring and data analytics, IoT upgrades provide actionable insights into equipment performance, enabling proactive maintenance and reducing downtime.

Reactive or run-to-failure (RTF) maintenance, a strategy in which equipment is kept running until it breaks down, may work well for non-critical assets. However, it does not work well with critical assets such as electric grid infrastructure. That is why preventive maintenance strategies are more suited for utilities and industries.

To address these challenges and ensure the continued reliability of critical substation equipment, UTEC’s services arm has launched a suite of services, including preventive maintenance and asset management, that help our customers minimize failure incidents and enhance the lifetime of the equipment.

4.How UTEC’s Preventive Maintenance Services Work

UTEC designs and provides scheduled servicing for your grid equipment ranging from low to medium voltage.

UTEC’s preventive maintenance program is built on advanced diagnostics to ensure the longevity of electrical equipment. By tracking critical performance metrics such as temperature, load, gas levels, and moisture, we can identify anomalies and predict potential failures before they occur.

Our asset management and preventive maintenance approach is rooted in transforming traditional systems into advanced, IoT-enabled solutions that drive efficiency and cost savings in brown and greenfield projects. By upgrading conventional equipment that relies heavily on manual reviews and frequent checkups, we introduce Smart IoT-enabled EQP as connected products at the first level. These systems enable remote monitoring, reducing the dependency on manpower while ensuring real-time insights into performance.

At the edge control level, we provide detailed dashboards that offer a deeper understanding of operational metrics, while the third level of IoT integration focuses on in-depth operation and fault analysis. This comprehensive approach optimizes OPEX, enhances manpower efficiency, and ensures assets remain reliable and effective throughout their lifecycle.

UTEC manufactures and offers advanced asset health monitoring solutions; for example, its B100 Series, an Electronic Temperature Monitor, offers comprehensive monitoring solutions for any generation, transmission, or distribution transformer. Available in three mounting options, it provides accurate temperature monitoring and fault gas detection features.

But what about meeting the growing requirements for advanced monitoring capabilities such as bushing health, partial discharge, and OLTC operation? This is where our E series and C50 Transformer Monitors come in – designed specifically to address the above–mentioned needs. These products enable real time monitoring of parameters like dissolved gas analysis (DGA), bushing health monitoring, and partial discharge detection. With advanced features such as OLTC performance tracking, E3 and C50 Transformer Monitors are suitable for both distribution and power transformers.

For medium voltage switchgear, another critical equipment to ensure safety and protection, UTEC has developed Dynamic Ratings Switchgear Monitor (SWGM). With the capability to monitor six bays of switchgear using a single monitor, SWGM performs advanced analytics required to detect operating deficiencies well in advance of switchgear failure. The monitor captures waveforms for each bay’s trip and close coils, tracking open, close, arcing, and interrupting times, while also monitoring individual motor starts, currents, and runtimes.

UTEC’s expertise is not just limited to the utilities or industrial settings, we have designed products like Smart Ring Main Unit (SRMU) which are ideal for urban environments. UTEC’s Enertwit+ is designed as a compact unit that offers a very high average life span. It offers features like self-energized load switch, ultra-low resistance vacuum circuit breaker, and primary live parts sealed within a durable stainless steel air tank.

Ideal for diverse applications—from onshore/offshore wind farms and photovoltaic power stations to medium- voltage substations, industrial enterprises, and large buildings—our SF6 gas-insulated solution helps lower total cost of ownership (TCO) while maximizing operational efficiency.

Combined with modern techniques like IoT, we integrate real-time data for trend analysis, allowing us to monitor transformer loads, detect SF6 gas leaks, and precisely track equipment locations.

But how does it help our customers? Our asset management and preventive maintenance programs ensure early detection of potential issues and failures, enabling:

• Increased efficiency
• Extended lifetime of equipment
• Reduction in costs

5. UTEC’s Expertise in Predictive Maintenance Leading to Reduced Total Cost of Ownership

While preventive maintenance offers significant benefits, it comes with some constraints. Although crucial, preventive maintenance involves potential over-maintenance and scheduled downtime that can disrupt operations.

Therefore, UTEC employs innovative approaches and data-driven strategies to help its customers maximize equipment life span. Using real-time data collection and condition-based assessments, UTEC keeps track of your equipment’s health, and maintenance is carried out based on preset conditions defined by UTEC experts. Through this advanced approach, UTEC allows its customers to reduce the assets’ TCO.

In several cases, such as LEED-certified projects, UTEC also recommends that its customers shift towards more environmentally friendly products, for example, UTEC’s Eco-friendly SF6 free air-insulated switchgear (AIS), “GearAir”. With features such as partial discharge detection and advanced medium-voltage (MV) monitoring, GearAir identifies potential failures before they occur, reducing unplanned outages and optimizing grid performance.

Similarly, UTEC’s cast resin dry type distribution transformers contain no oil which may pollute the environment hence no special measures are required to guard against spillage. Absence of oil also makes these transformers less prone to servicing leading to reduced maintenance overheads.

In addition to improving reliability, UTEC’s innovative switchgear and transformers solutions offer significant improvements in energy efficiency through advanced asset management capabilities and reduced TCO.

6. Ensuring Grid Reliability for the Future

The growing demand for electricity underscores the critical role of reliable grids in supporting the transition to renewable energy. Maintaining this reliability becomes even more challenging with aging infrastructure, making programs like asset management and preventive maintenance essential to ensure uninterrupted operations and efficiency.

As an OEM and trusted service provider, UTEC leverages its deep understanding of equipment to offer a comprehensive suite of services. From testing, commissioning, and installation to preventive maintenance, engineering and design, upgrades, retrofits, partial discharge monitoring, thermal monitoring, and control solutions, UTEC is committed to delivering reliability and innovation for the evolving power landscape.