A study of best practice of scheduled outage program in increasing plant performance

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine solution in meeting high expectation from plant owner to the one and only asset in Malaysia of thermal type coal-fired power plant, Chinese Group of Nuclear (CGN) through Malaysian local company EDRA Power Holdings Sdn Bhd has challenged Jimah power plant to increase its plant performance and reliability with significant reduction toward Unplanned Outage Rate (UOR) which currently has exceeded the target limit of 4%, two percent (2%) is higher than the limit as stipulated in Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). It is believed that key success factor in achieving this target is through the implementation a comprehensive scheduled maintenance program that can be realized with collaboration of functional organization lead by dedicated outage team known as Outage and Project Management (OPM). Originally, the plant backlog is managed by each functional area without any collaboration from other multidisciplinary which also could lead to the unresolved issue at plant. The main challenge in this research mainly in determining the best approach in managing plant backlog from multidisciplinary section with minimum intervention from outage team using a systematic system approach. The outcome should be a total clearance of outstanding defects and completing all planned job including preventive, predictive and condition based maintenance under Jimah maintenance strategy mainly to prolong the lifespan of asset for profitability until the end of PPA with Tenaga National Berhad (TNB) in year 2033. The development of scheduled outage management program is tailored through combination of world standard of quality management such as Total Quality Management (TQM), Reliability Centered Management (RCM), Total Production Maintenance (TPM) and many more. This research helps reveal the current plant condition and performance statistically through number of outstanding backlog and abnormalities registered in asset management system (MAXIMO), Operation’s logsheet, key performance indicator for every outages and etc. A complete work scheduling comprises all planned job for each type of outage shall be developed as the major outcome from this research.