ALPHA ENGINEERINGPower & Energy · Since 1979
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ALPHA ENGINEERINGPower & Energy · Since 1979
Your crew is rightly focused on this winter. At the same time, someone must keep the long-term view in focus, and that is typically where we are asked to help.
A section of line fails whenever strong winds hit. The crew knows exactly where to go and has repaired it so often that the routine now feels like part of winter: the call, the overtime, and the power gets restored.
No one is doing anything wrong. A crew skilled at restoring a circuit is invaluable. But responding effectively is not the same as understanding why the failures keep happening. Whether the cause is tree contact, a failing splice, a missing animal guard, or a coordination issue, the monthly summary makes each incident look the same: another outage on the same line.
What it costs: overtime, lost revenue, and frustrated, vocal members.A substation is built without space for additional equipment or sized for peak loading in the near term. When approved, the choices seem reasonable, and the recommendation reflects careful stewardship of the utility's money.
The problem is that these decisions last decades, while budget cycles are annual. It is easy to forget that utility staff are making decisions that must serve the system for decades to come. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to rebuild projects at several times the original cost much earlier than expected due to undersized equipment.
What it costs: rebuilding projects prematurely at several times the original cost.Long-time staff know the system, but there are no maps. The utility depends on them to know where key equipment is located, understand tie-line limitations, and operate the system. They also know about past workarounds that were never addressed.
That knowledge was never documented because more urgent work always took priority. Now a known departure date is approaching, with no time left to capture it. The impact may not be apparent when the retiree leaves. It may appear months later during an event when someone needs to understand why the system was built a certain way or how to perform a switching procedure.
What it costs: forty years of system knowledge walking out the door without adequate documentation.To keep a project moving, equipment is sometimes ordered using a specification that appears close enough to the equipment already in the field.
Sometimes it works. Other times, the equipment arrives as ordered, but it is incompatible with the system or does not achieve the desired outcome and is too specialized to resell or return. A quick engineering review before issuing the purchase order can help avoid paying for equipment twice and lengthy delays while waiting for a replacement.
What it costs: rework, a stalled project, and equipment you can't return.Budgets are tight every year, making preventive maintenance an easy expense to defer. The initial deferrals may seem reasonable.
However, the maintenance does not disappear. The consequences of deferral remain until the equipment fails, usually at the worst possible time.
What it costs: a failure that becomes more likely and more costly with each year of delay.Describe what you're experiencing, and we will review it, even if the honest answer is that it isn't worth pursuing.
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