Experience with the use of RCM in a transmission maintenance environment

New power system maintenance concepts and techniques are developed almost daily. There has been a major shift towards participation and teamwork with the ever increasing pressure towards more effective and efficient use of resources, a structured process of addressing the complex key issues regarding maintenance is therefore required. A shift towards reliability-centred maintenance (RCM) was thus almost inevitable. A controlled and structured approach is needed to change from a purely time based maintenance philosophy, to one that also considers usage and condition of equipment. This paper discusses the use of such a structured process, namely RCM, for analysing maintenance tasks, as applied in practice. The experience gained with two of a few projects in a transmission network operating and maintenance environment forms the basis of the discussion.<
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