Spanish power provider Endesa has implemented RCM2 (reliability centered maintenance) at 67 of its power plants in the world in a move to ensure high performance and cost efficiencies in the future.
The RCM2 project will be carried out at 21 Spanish sites, 18 in Chile, 11 in Colombia, ten in Peru, five in Argentina and two Brazil.
The process entails the systematic and standard study of the causes, evaluation of consequences and definition of the most efficient maintenance to avoid incidents. With RCM2, the company can draw up an operational surveillance and maintenance plan that can both predict and prevent incidents.
Applying RCM2 to maintenance optimization, Endesa designed a strategy in 2005 that helped avoid more than 18,500 incidents: 48.7% at its fossil fuel plants, 22.3% at its hydro plants (conventional and those using reversible pumps), 16.4% at its diesel plants at 12.6% at its CCGTs. This marks a 43% improvement from 2004 and enabled the company to save over E2 million last year and will produce an estimated E4 million in savings in the years ahead, the firm says.
When the program is fully rolled out in 2008, it will produce an estimated annual saving of E15 million. This saving is calculated based on both the avoidance of production losses and the operating efficiency gains at the plants.