POWER April 2015 - 30

OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE
4. Get the picture. Infrared windows offer a solution to help reduce risk of arc flash exposure
so scans can be completed safely and efficiently, complying with National Fire Protection
Association (NFPA) 70E requirements. Courtesy: FLIR Systems Inc.
using outage contractors for a long time. It
just isn't feasible to staff a facility for seasonal
fluctuations, but contractors offer benefits other
than just a massive influx of people.
According to Ross McConnell, senior
vice president of nuclear operations for Day
& Zimmermann (D&Z), performing maintenance
and modification services on 49 of the
99 operating nuclear units in the U.S. enables
his company to benchmark performance and
capture best practices from many different
sites. The knowledge is shared with its customers
for the benefit of all.
" Our customers value the breadth and
depth of our experience, our industry footprint,
and our ability to bring lessons learned
from other companies, " McConnell said.
" They value the level of engagement that
they get from our leadership team. "
Although contracting for services is not a
new concept, McConnell said that customers
lately seem to want a contractor with a
flexible delivery model, the ability to provide
supplemental contingent workers, the capability
to manage task work and project work,
or a scalable combination of all three.
Providing engaged and well-trained talall
that long, " Fassett said. " Technology has
evolved a lot over the last 15 to 20 years, and
many facilities are missing the mark by not
utilizing the technology effectively. "
Money-Saving Trends
" Cost cutting is very common today, " Nordman
acknowledged. " Plants try to get down
to the bare minimum, but even with external
support and remote monitoring, you still need
to have people at the site. "
Nordman said that 10 to 15 years ago, a
common estimate was that one person was
needed for each MW at its facilities, but
not anymore. Now it is far fewer. Nordman
pointed to a 360-MW plant in Ghana, Africa,
where Wärtsilä is proposing a full O&M
agreement with a staff of 85 people, but he
suggested that plants in more developed
countries may be able to get by with even
fewer workers.
Condition-based maintenance and remote
monitoring have helped reduce the number
of people needed to operate and maintain
plants. Data can be analyzed and predictions
can be made based on trends and knowledge
of similar equipment.
Wärtsilä has seven contract centers around
the globe to provide support, with three more
in the planning phase. With the knowledge
gained by having more than 500 asset man30
agement
and maintenance agreements, the
company has been able to develop tools to
increase availability and reliability, and optimize
heat rates.
Remote support specialists target several
improvement opportunities for owners and
operators, including reducing maintenance
costs, reducing fuel consumption and emissions,
and avoiding unplanned stops. Wärtsilä
does this by using models to calculate ideal
operating parameters for installations.
Engine specification and installation type,
ambient conditions, design criteria, and installation-specific
data and configuration are
analyzed and feedback provided to owners
in a detailed report. Wärtsilä's vast database
of knowledge and experience allows required
maintenance to be predicted two to six months
in advance, and critical cases to be identified
as early as seven to 30 days in advance.
Some risk is involved when remote connection
via computer is allowed, but Nordman
noted that Wärtsilä takes that threat seriously.
" We have a department that specializes in cybersecurity,
and they ensure we are meeting
the highest standards and customer demands
in that respect, " Nordman said.
Road Warriors
Large facilities-such as most nuclear plants
and many large coal-fired stations-have been
www.powermag.com
ent takes work. D&Z uses a process called
" blueprinting " to help. The company assesses
the labor needs for all of its clients in
a given region over an 18-month period and
then creates a blueprint with a continuous
employment opportunity available for workers.
This process is vital to D&Z's ability to
recruit and retain skilled workers.
" We understand the challenges that our
customers and the power industry are facing,
and we think it's increasingly necessary for
us to take a true partnership approach with
our clients to try and solve those challenges.
We want to collaborate with our partners so
that they can have the best results possible, "
McConnell said. " They're looking for us to
do what we do best so that they can do what
they do best. "
People Make the Difference
You often hear managers say: " Our people are
our most valuable resource, " and even though
it sounds cliché, the fact is that dedicated and
enthusiastic employees do make a difference.
There may come a time when computers and
robots do some of the jobs that people currently
perform, but most likely people will
still be needed to oversee such programs.
" As much as the industry would like to rely
on technology, I don't think it's ever going to
get to the point where people are completely
eliminated, " Fassett concluded. " I just can't
emphasize enough the need for having highly
trained, motivated personnel to be onsite. " ■
-Aaron Larson is a POWER associate
editor.
POWER | April 2015

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POWER April 2015

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