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Asset performance and condition monitoring program creates increased levels of visibility for the National Grid
The role of the National Grid is to submit a stable, reliable and available electricity supply throughout England and Wales as efficiently as possible, while adhering to strict budgetary constraints and cutting down on spiraling costs. Traditional means of reducing costs consisted of reducing the workforce and amalgamating business support functions, but these measures only led to a loss of knowledge amid an ageing asset profile. What was needed was a new way of thinking to deliver effective asset management across the whole asset base with the resources available.
They needed a platform with no limits for expansion and scalability, could communicate across all sites, and provide complete visibility on asset performance to those that needed it.
In 2005, the National Grid adopted C3 global’s Condition and Risk Evaluation (CARE) solution for its steel lattice tower network, and in 2006 the Strategic Asset Management (SAM) was implemented across their substation transformers. The purpose of the Condition Monitoring system was to provide information with the main aim of presenting information to enable prediction of the time to intervene and give guidance on the type of intervention required:
- Maintenance regime
- Risk Management
- End of Life prediction
- Knowledge elicitation
- Enhanced Rating
Both solutions monitored asset health and performance, delivering high-level, operational visibility through a single portal environment that gathers data from a wide variety of sources. The solution has given them a structured model for strategic intervention that allows them to maximize performance for significant financial savings.
The success of the system and the relationship between C3 and the Nation Grid continues to grow as more innovative modules are added to the CM system regularly, with the SAM system itself being used as the main platform for all condition monitoring within the National Grid. C3 global’s association with the National Grid reiterates our role as a leading expert in how to operate and maintain power networks more efficiently and provide tangible business benefits.
