Life cycle management of equipment in the power generation industry
- Authors: Govender, Lenesh
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Eskom (Firm) , Electric power-plants - South Africa - Maintenance and repair , Electric power-plants - South Africa - Management , Electric power-plants - South Africa - Equipment and supplies , Electric power production - South Africa - Management
- Language: English
- Type: Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/83253 , uj:19068
- Description: Abstract: Eskom is the largest power generating utility in South Africa. It mainly utilises coal fired power stations to generate electricity, which are reaching or have reached their mid-life span. Electricity demand has risen substantially over the years and Eskom is currently struggling to meet the demand. It has also deferred their planned maintenance in order to meet the electricity demand. This has resulted in several break-downs on various systems within the power station on a daily basis. These break downs have a direct effect on the availability and reliability of the power station and in certain instances “load shedding” is applied due to lack of electricity generation. The concept of “load shedding” will be discussed later in the minor dissertation. The lack of maintenance of the power stations has resulted in the need for reactive maintenance. In the current economic climate, the maintenance costs of the power stations are relatively big contributors to the financial well-being of Eskom. This minor dissertation focuses on the theoretical background of reliability engineering and how it is practically applied towards a system in the Power Station. It covers the approach towards managing the maintenance of a specific system in the Power Station. This minor dissertation provides the reader with concepts related to maintenance management and utilises a case study to illustrate these concepts practically. It also discusses the development of a maintenance strategy with respect to a system in the Power Station. The objective of maintenance management will be discussed and the logical framework that will be used to achieve these maintenance objectives will be investigated. The various options that could be used to move the entire system in the Power Station to preventative maintenance will be discussed in this minor dissertation. The benefits of preventative maintenance will also be discussed. Condition monitoring will be discussed as well as the role of continuous improvement of the maintenance system. , M.Ing. (Engineering Management)
- Full Text:
- Authors: Govender, Lenesh
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Eskom (Firm) , Electric power-plants - South Africa - Maintenance and repair , Electric power-plants - South Africa - Management , Electric power-plants - South Africa - Equipment and supplies , Electric power production - South Africa - Management
- Language: English
- Type: Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/83253 , uj:19068
- Description: Abstract: Eskom is the largest power generating utility in South Africa. It mainly utilises coal fired power stations to generate electricity, which are reaching or have reached their mid-life span. Electricity demand has risen substantially over the years and Eskom is currently struggling to meet the demand. It has also deferred their planned maintenance in order to meet the electricity demand. This has resulted in several break-downs on various systems within the power station on a daily basis. These break downs have a direct effect on the availability and reliability of the power station and in certain instances “load shedding” is applied due to lack of electricity generation. The concept of “load shedding” will be discussed later in the minor dissertation. The lack of maintenance of the power stations has resulted in the need for reactive maintenance. In the current economic climate, the maintenance costs of the power stations are relatively big contributors to the financial well-being of Eskom. This minor dissertation focuses on the theoretical background of reliability engineering and how it is practically applied towards a system in the Power Station. It covers the approach towards managing the maintenance of a specific system in the Power Station. This minor dissertation provides the reader with concepts related to maintenance management and utilises a case study to illustrate these concepts practically. It also discusses the development of a maintenance strategy with respect to a system in the Power Station. The objective of maintenance management will be discussed and the logical framework that will be used to achieve these maintenance objectives will be investigated. The various options that could be used to move the entire system in the Power Station to preventative maintenance will be discussed in this minor dissertation. The benefits of preventative maintenance will also be discussed. Condition monitoring will be discussed as well as the role of continuous improvement of the maintenance system. , M.Ing. (Engineering Management)
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Cost analysis : power generation plants versus demand side management programmes
- Authors: Mulongo, Ndala Yves
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Electric power-plants - South Africa - Costs , Electric power-plants - South Africa - Management , Electric power-plants - South Africa - Equipment and supplies , Eskom (Firm)
- Language: English
- Type: Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/213026 , uj:21068
- Description: Abstract: Over the last decade, South Africa has been experiencing an electricity supply crisis. This power crisis has been threatening the stability of the national power grid. The crisis was caused by insufficient generation capacity as well as an increased demand for electricity. In order to counteract this situation, the state owned electricity utility, Eskom decided to increase its power capacity by building new power plants, and implementing demand side management (DSM) initiatives to save energy. All of this came at a cost. Therefore, the present study was aimed at helping decision makers in the South African electricity sector to decide on the optimum funding allocation for the above projects. The research methodology adopted in this study was cost analysis. Three levels of cost comparison were developed in this study. These were based on power generating technologies (coal, gas, nuclear, wind, concentrated solar power, and solar photovoltaic), and on DSM programmes (residential mass rollouts, standard offer programme, standard product programme, performance contracting programme, and energy services companies model mass rollouts). The first level analysed the costs of building power plants as well as costs of producing electricity using different power generating technologies. The second level analysed the costs of implementing DSM programmes as well as costs of saving energy by implementing DSM programmes. Lastly, the third level analysed the costs of building power plants against the costs of implementing DSM programmes, as well as assessing the costs of producing electricity versus the costs of saving energy. The results for both power plants and DSM measures were tested through sensitivity analyses. At the first comparison, it was revealed that renewable energy technologies have the highest costs, higher than other generating technologies. At this level, a conclusion was drawn up in three parts noting that (1) although renewable technologies are expensive, they should be given more weight due to the fact that they are inexhaustible, (2) they guarantee safety to the environment, and (3) they do not emit greenhouse gases into the environment. At the second level of cost comparison, it was demonstrated that residential mass rollout (RMR) has the highest cost, higher than any other programme. At this level, it was concluded that due to the target market of RMR, which is residential sector, RMR should be given more weight, because more energy is wasted in this sector. It was further observed that residential consumers use a lot of electricity during peak period, and this increases during the winter season. The third level of cost comparison demonstrated that DSM measures were the resource alternative available at the lowest cost to the electricity utility. Hence, DSM initiatives could help to alleviate power outages issues and therefore, delay the need for building new power plants. Since DSM initiatives were found to be cheaper to run, their implementations meant that the utility would save billions of Rand by not using large amounts of water, coal, fuel, operating the plant at lower levels of intensify and doing less maintenance on the power plant. , M.Ing. (Engineering Management)
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mulongo, Ndala Yves
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Electric power-plants - South Africa - Costs , Electric power-plants - South Africa - Management , Electric power-plants - South Africa - Equipment and supplies , Eskom (Firm)
- Language: English
- Type: Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/213026 , uj:21068
- Description: Abstract: Over the last decade, South Africa has been experiencing an electricity supply crisis. This power crisis has been threatening the stability of the national power grid. The crisis was caused by insufficient generation capacity as well as an increased demand for electricity. In order to counteract this situation, the state owned electricity utility, Eskom decided to increase its power capacity by building new power plants, and implementing demand side management (DSM) initiatives to save energy. All of this came at a cost. Therefore, the present study was aimed at helping decision makers in the South African electricity sector to decide on the optimum funding allocation for the above projects. The research methodology adopted in this study was cost analysis. Three levels of cost comparison were developed in this study. These were based on power generating technologies (coal, gas, nuclear, wind, concentrated solar power, and solar photovoltaic), and on DSM programmes (residential mass rollouts, standard offer programme, standard product programme, performance contracting programme, and energy services companies model mass rollouts). The first level analysed the costs of building power plants as well as costs of producing electricity using different power generating technologies. The second level analysed the costs of implementing DSM programmes as well as costs of saving energy by implementing DSM programmes. Lastly, the third level analysed the costs of building power plants against the costs of implementing DSM programmes, as well as assessing the costs of producing electricity versus the costs of saving energy. The results for both power plants and DSM measures were tested through sensitivity analyses. At the first comparison, it was revealed that renewable energy technologies have the highest costs, higher than other generating technologies. At this level, a conclusion was drawn up in three parts noting that (1) although renewable technologies are expensive, they should be given more weight due to the fact that they are inexhaustible, (2) they guarantee safety to the environment, and (3) they do not emit greenhouse gases into the environment. At the second level of cost comparison, it was demonstrated that residential mass rollout (RMR) has the highest cost, higher than any other programme. At this level, it was concluded that due to the target market of RMR, which is residential sector, RMR should be given more weight, because more energy is wasted in this sector. It was further observed that residential consumers use a lot of electricity during peak period, and this increases during the winter season. The third level of cost comparison demonstrated that DSM measures were the resource alternative available at the lowest cost to the electricity utility. Hence, DSM initiatives could help to alleviate power outages issues and therefore, delay the need for building new power plants. Since DSM initiatives were found to be cheaper to run, their implementations meant that the utility would save billions of Rand by not using large amounts of water, coal, fuel, operating the plant at lower levels of intensify and doing less maintenance on the power plant. , M.Ing. (Engineering Management)
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