International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 11, Number 19 (2016) pp.
9735-9739
© Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com
Asset Management and Maintenance in Transmission
and Distribution Networks
S. Surender Reddy
Department of Railroad and Electrical System Engineering, Woosong University
171 Dongdaejeon-ro, Jayang-dong, Dong-gu, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Abstract
In this paper, asset management strategies in transmission
networks are presented based on short-term, medium-term and
long-term time scales. Asset management is the process of
guiding the acquisition, use and disposal of assets to make the
most of their future economic benefit and manage the related
risks and costs over their entire life cycle and it has gained
more importance in monopoly transmission and distribution
sectors. Aging assets, uncertainty in power system load profile
and renewable energy resources, and demand management
create a challenge for the optimal operation and maintenance
of the electrical grid. This paper addresses the challenges and
opportunities to improve transmission and distribution
systems asset maintenance. This paper also presents the asset
replacement alternatives. This paper also presents the cost-
benefit analysis of asset management using the information/
real time data from the utility company. This paper will serve
a guide for doing the asset management to the benefit of
world's electrification process, investment and recovery to
sustain reliable and efficient power delivery.
Keywords: Asset management, aging assets, uncertainty,
renewable energy resources.
INTRODUCTION
The CIGRE Australasian Asset Management Working Group
defines asset management for electricity industry as Asset
Management is a set of business processes concerned with
developing, operating and maintaining the assets of an
organization to meet the desired requirements of the
customers and the shareholders of the business. These desired
requirements usually encompass cost, performance, safety and
environmental outcomes as well as a secure electricity supply.
Aging assets and uncertainty in power system load profile and
demand management create a challenge for the optimal
operation and maintenance of the electricity grid. Asset
Management will reduce the risk of equipment failure, extend
the life of equipment, and minimize the occurrence of costly
unplanned outages.
Asset management can be applied to help electric utilities
address aging power transmission and distribution
infrastructure, reliability and business risk challenges in an
organized and orderly fashion. Applied correctly, asset
management explicitly recognizes that the utility's equipment
exists to serve its customers and that all decisions regarding
its use and care are made on the basis of business needs and
profitability in performing the utility's mission. When one is
interested in knowing how asset management works to benefit
their companies, it is very important to get to know how asset
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management really works. This includes the services that asset
management employs to handle assets, the costs of utilizing
asset management services, the available software designed to
manage assets, even the qualifications of certified asset
management advisors.
Most electric utilities in North America have significant
portions of their electrical infrastructure that are “aged” –
composed mostly of equipment that has been in service so
long that wear and tear have an obvious effect, but not so
deteriorated that immediate replacement is needed. Asset
management focuses on all aspects of managing aging assets
well, from a far-reaching look at aging and its impacts on
transmission and distribution system, customer reliability, and
the utility’s bottom line, to the various means through which
utilities can manage aging, it’s costs and effects in an efficient
manner. Asset management includes: comprehensive
inspection programs, condition assessment and tracking,
maintenance management, life-extension technologies,
strategic planning and prioritization, and refurbishment and
replacement policies. It is very important to know that the
asset lifecycle has four broad stages that asset management
firms take into consideration. Planning and procurement
includes carefully considering which to procure, ordering
these and even receiving and testing these are salient features
of asset management. Managing the daily operations of assets
enabling companies to maximize productivity is also an
important feature of asset management. Knowing how much it
costs to operate the company and comparing it to the profits
and the existing assets make for balanced returns and even
more commonly returns to the part of the companies.
The restructuring and liberalization developments worldwide
have increased the incentives for a cost effective and efficient
use of available assets in generation, transmission and
distribution segments of the electricity industry [1].
Essentially, asset management, which is the process of
guiding the acquisition, use and disposal of assets to make the
most of their future economic benefit and manage the related
risks and costs over their entire life cycle, has gained more
importance in naturally monopoly transmission and
distribution sectors than before, like in the competitive
generation industry [2].
Asset management plan summarizes the intended
maintenance, asset replacement and contingency plans for
each asset, and provides detail on the expenditure associated
with each of these plans. Transmission assets operate at very
high voltages and the consequence of their failure has the
potential to affect many customers. Equally, compared to
distribution, there are relatively few transmission assets, and
their age and condition are generally well understood. The age
of the network provides a useful indication of the need for
 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 11, Number 19 (2016) pp. 9735-9739
© Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com

asset renewal. While there are other factors that will
determine the need to renew a particular asset including
physical location, loading, suboptimal maintenance and any
design faults, age provides a useful trigger to consider the
need for replacement. Asset management for most utilities
today is handled using run-to-fail strategy. Particularly in the
distribution network, where asset value is generally low, many
utilities have not incorporated sensing or monitoring
technology into their networks. However, with the advent of
the smart grid – and the deployment of communications
networks that enable advanced metering infrastructure and
distribution automation programs – the inclusion of sensing or
monitoring is starting to make more economic sense.
Nowadays, transmission owners and operators face new
challenges due to stringent regulatory mandates, system
security concerns and inherent capacity limitations in the face
of increased transfer demands. Additionally, they are facing
growing cost pressures for minimizing or curtailing
operational or capital investments in the transmission asset
arena. Asset management processes are described in Figure 1.
Customer, Regulatory
Shareholder and Requirements and
Obligations
Community
Expectations
Demand Side Networks’ Vision
Management and Objectives
Planning Criteria
Network Investment
Network Planning Process
sustainability. Based on the individual maintenance schedules
or on the assessment and inspection findings, maintenance
operations are planned to ensure the reliability of the system.
The Asset Management Plan describes the intended
maintenance, asset replacement and contingency plans for
each asset, and provides detail on the expenditure associated
with each of these plans. Transmission assets operate at very
high voltages and the consequence of their failure has the
potential to affect many customers. Equally, compared to
distribution, there are relatively few transmission assets, and
their age and condition are generally well understood.
The age of the network provides a useful indication of the
need for asset renewal. While there are other factors that will
determine the need to renew a particular asset age provides a
useful trigger to consider the need for replacement. Asset
management for most utilities today is handled with what is
commonly called a run-to-fail strategy. Particularly in the
distribution network, where the asset value is generally low,
many utilities have not incorporated the sensing or monitoring
technology into their networks. However, with the advent of
the smart grid – and the deployment of communications
networks that enable advanced metering infrastructure and
Regulatory
Requirements and distribution automation programs – the inclusion of sensing or
Obligations monitoring is starting to make more economic sense.
Transmission owners and operators face new challenges due
Demand and
Generation Growth
to stringent regulatory mandates, system security concerns
and inherent capacity limitations in the face of increased
transfer demands. Additionally, they are facing growing cost
pressures for minimizing/curtailing operational/capital

Strategy
Technical Code investments in the transmission asset arena.
Demand Side
Load and
Expenditure Forecasts Management
Generation
Opportunities
Forecasts Capital Operating and
Expenditure Maintenance TRANSMISSION ASSET MANAGEMENT
Asset Trade
Management
Forecast
offs
Expenditure As mentioned earlier, the transmission owners and operators
Plans face new challenges due to stringent regulatory mandates,
system security concerns and inherent capacity limitations in
the face of increased transfer demands. Additionally, they are
Figure 1. Overview of Asset Management Processes. facing growing cost pressures for minimizing or curtailing
operational or capital investments in the transmission asset
In [3], an application-based distribution network asset arena. The need for practical, effective and reliable tools to
management is discussed by proposing a dynamic network help manage these important assets in real-time has never
rating approach to facilitate low carbon network operation. A been stronger.
two-step methodology for scheduling electric vehicle charging
while limiting the burden on distribution and transmission
assets is proposed in [4]. Reference [5] develops a model for
determining the number and location of automatic switches in
distribution networks with the objective of minimizing the
investment, operation, and unreliability costs. In [6], an
intelligent framework for condition monitoring and
assessment of power transformers is proposed while using
data from online sensor measurement and historic database.
Multi-objective decision-making condition based maintenance
model is proposed in [8]. A cascading failure risk assessment
method based on the reliabilities model of circuit breakers and
protective relays is proposed in [9], where a fully physical
mechanism is utilized to illustrate the evolution of cascading
failures.
Frequent condition assessment with asset audit enables a
comprehensive assessment of the asset in question and
includes objective and transparent asset condition information Figure 2. Energy Management System (EMS) Platform.
recommendations for the improved environmental

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 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 11, Number 19 (2016) pp. 9735-9739
© Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com
Effective management of these assets involves efficient and
holistic monitoring of the complex transmission network,
intelligent and reliable security analysis tools for developing
effective strategies to avert, mitigate and cope with system
emergencies, and well-rehearsed scenarios and well-trained
operators to deal with localized or system-wide emergencies,
blackouts, voltage collapse, loss of critical equipment, etc.
The Blackout of August 14, 2003, and other similar collapses
in various grids in Europe and the Americas, have greatly
underlined the need for strong and reliable transmission
monitoring and management tools as well as effective and
realistic operator training systems. Efficient algorithms,
effective on-line maintenance tools, intuitive graphics and
user interface techniques provide for a powerful security
monitoring and analysis environment for transmission
operators. Transmission Management and EMS applications
will help transmission operators of various size and grid
complexity worldwide.
From China's fast growing and challenging transmission
systems to overly burdened transmission systems in Australia,
Europe or the Americas, EMS applications have been the
reliable nucleus of many companies' real-time security
analysis strategy. Using detailed dynamic modeling of the
power system and an exact replica of the Control Center
environment, system operators can rehearse a full spectrum of
system events, emergencies and restoration techniques in the
most realistic settings. To maximize the operating life of
electricity generation, transmission, and distribution
equipment, one need to strike the right balance between
preventative maintenance and condition-based monitoring.
Figure 3 depicts the condition monitoring using the balanced
approach.
Figure 3. Condition Monitoring using Balanced Approach.
DISTRIBUTION ASSET MANAGEMENT
The distribution system asset management can be categorized
as short-term asset management is related with the operational
issues of the network, mid-term asset management is
associated with the maintenance of system assets, and long-
term asset management is concerned with the strategical
planning of distribution systems [2].
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Operational Management
The main tasks of a Distribution Utility Enterprise (DUE) in
short-term include the operation and control of the network
ensuring the security and reliability of the power supply.
Security of supply is the ability of the network to meet
customer demand without suffering an interruption in the first
instance, and secondly, where an interruption develops it is
the ability to restore power more quickly via alternative
supply options. Power system assets are monitored through
the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
systems which help system operators monitor and control the
system in real-time. SCADA collects real-time data from
Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) installed in substations and
power plants, and distributed throughout the power system.
These data are transmitted to the system control center and
stored in the Distribution Management System (DMS) real-
time database. The DUE tracks and manages loads, maintains
voltage profiles and maximizes the efficiency of the
distribution system by the DMS. Sub-transmission and
distribution networks have a geographical reference.
Geographic Information System (GIS), which stores spatial
information about a utility’s assets for representing the
location and condition of assets including switches, relays,
transformers, poles, cables, provides a variety of functions for
asset management in all time scales. Demand type, outage
information and customer complaints are among the
information that give important feedbacks to asset
management decisions. Future developments of GIS
technology may include SCADA processes technology.
Maintenance Management
Mid-term asset management associates with the maintenance
of assets. Since there is a cost involved in the maintenance
(the cost of the service plus the cost of possibly interrupting
load), many research works have been presented on
maintenance scheduling optimization, under the objective of
providing a focused management framework, intended to
ensure that the condition and performance of distribution
assets continue to effectively meet the requirements of
customers in the most economic manner. Maintenance in a
utility may be divided in three main categories: emergency,
preventive and predictive. Emergency maintenance occurs
after a fault, where the preventive and predictive
maintenances intend to keep equipments and installation in
proper working conditions, avoiding failures. Preventive
maintenance can be divided in two categories further: Time-
based Maintenance (TBM) and Condition based Maintenance
(CBM). TBM is performed at regular and scheduled intervals,
loosely based on the service history of a component and/or the
experience of service personnel. CBM periodically determines
the state of equipment deterioration, and maintains equipment
when the condition falls below acceptable thresholds. Many
numerical approaches have been developed in literature to
prioritise distribution maintenance activities based on system
reliability and cost-effectiveness [2]. Mathematical models,
which represent the effects of maintenance on reliability, are
needed in those approaches to find the optimal RCM strategy.
Indeed, a comprehensive asset database, which consists of all
necessary information based on periodic inspections,
diagnostic tests, or other means of condition monitoring, is
 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 11, Number 19 (2016) pp. 9735-9739
© Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com
mandatory to develop an RCM strategy. This database can be
included in existing IT applications such as GIS. In fact, since
there is no unique product of system that covers all the facets
of the asset management, the supporting IT applications have
to be built on existing systems. This points out a need for
applications and system integration over a robust IT
infrastructure. Therefore, favouring open standards that
facilitate data and message exchanges among different utility
systems and provide the framework for extensibility is quite
important in the context of asset management in all time
scales.
Strategical Planning
Asset management in the long-term associates with
identifying asset enhancement and development programmes
required to meet target levels of service. The choice of a
particular planning solution has traditionally been determined
by performing network analysis considering the load growth
and calculating the economic and financial implications
associated with each possible solution. The solution that
provides the minimum economic and financial impact would
then be selected for implementation. In today’s demanding
environment, issues such as distributed generation, reliability
and quality of supply and environmental issues are now
becoming as important as load growth and must also be
included in the distribution planning activity. Owing to the
radial operation of power distribution networks, the reliability
of distribution systems generally depends on the worst reliable
equipment existing in the system. Therefore, decision-making
techniques that applied to electricity distribution system
planning should assess the conditions and performance of the
system assets.
ASSET MANAGEMENT IN SMART GRID
As smart grid technologies began to be deployed rapidly at
utilities through the last parts of the 2000s in the predominant
forms of advanced metering infrastructure, distribution
automation technologies and control room software such as
distribution management systems (DMS), few companies
understood that adding those assets to a companywide asset
management strategy portfolio would be as important as it
now is. Asset management involves optimizing and
prioritizing investments in assets to maintain or improve
performance and life expectancy throughout the asset’s life
cycle. Smart Asset Management uses smart grid data to
improve asset management results through the use of back-
end integration and data analytics.
Asset management applications are heavily data driven
requiring data from across the enterprise from GIS, the work
management system, the maintenance management system,
outage management system, on-line monitoring system(s),
meter data management systems, equipment catalogs,
standards, planning and archived operational histories. Often
such information is lacking altogether or inaccurate. This is
because information is siloed within various utility
departments without adequate integration at the backend.
Manual data transfers and processes involving copy-paste and
single point-to-point integrations make the process of asset
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management error-prone and in most cases very time
consuming.
Smart grid data when collected and analyzed provide a rich
resource for asset management allowing utilities to better
understand their deployed assets and manage performance.
Smart Asset Management may be realized by providing back-
end data integration so that data may be used effectively in
building a knowledge-based program. Some of the benefits of
implementing Smart Asset Management include cost savings
and a better understanding of risk; asset life cycle and
procurement planning; improved performance from existing
equipment; a vigorous, defendable, repeatable platform for
justification of asset decisions with advanced auditing
capability; improved system reliability with increased
longevity of asset life by maintaining operation within asset
specifications; and compliance with regulations and improved
customer satisfaction through better power delivery and
reliability.
CONCLUSIONS
Asset management describes the intended maintenance, asset
replacement and contingency plans for each asset, and
provides detail on the expenditure associated with each of
these plans. Aging assets, uncertainty in power system load
profile and renewable energy resources, and demand
management create a challenge for the optimal operation and
maintenance of the electrical grid. This paper addresses the
challenges and opportunities to improve transmission and
distribution systems asset maintenance. This paper also
presents the asset replacement alternatives. This paper serves
as a guide for doing the asset management to the benefit of
world's electrification process, investment and recovery to
sustain reliable and efficient power delivery.
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 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 11, Number 19 (2016) pp. 9735-9739
© Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com

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