Asset Management - A Tale Of Two Deployments

This presentation will describe Nova Scotia Power Inc.’s (NSPI’s) Asset Management journey – comparing the progression for our Power Production division, with that current in play in support of our Transmission, Distribution and Delivery (T&D) division. NSPI has deployed a fully-integrated, technology-enabled Asset Management approach for its Power Production fleet of assets. The journey to undertake that development was staged, with key components of the asset management approach integrated in a step-wise fashion, each building up on the other. Carefully designed visuals were used to communicate and gain asset owner (plant management and field-level) support for the initiative, and resources from the organization migrated to the centralized asset management team over time, providing centralized, fleet-level support vs. plant-level support. Over approximately 8 years, the “Asset Management Office” team grew from 3 to 10, including dedicated operational technology resources, technical subject matter experts focused on generation assets and performance, and field level support resources. Major programs were deployed such as condition-based monitoring, predictive analytics and digital Operator rounds. There was room for trial-and-error, and continuous improvement with significant field engagement. A very bottom-up approach. In 2017, the Asset Management team’s mandate expanded to include NSPI’s T&D assets. The mandate included an organizational change, which gave the Enterprise Asset Management (TEAM) division (which includes Asset Management, but also Capital Management and Planning) elevated status via Sr. Director leadership. Some resources from the T&D division of the organization changed their reporting point to the AM team “en masse”. An EAM Integration Management position was created to have consistent leadership over the integration of the asset management approach across T&D, including integration into existing Asset Performance Management systems and framework, ensuring alignment with, and building on successful work completed for Power Production. The expectation for successful transition at a higher level, with minimal bumps along the way, was very different. A very top-down approach. Each approach has its highs (“…the best of times..”, and lows (“…the worst of times…”). But while different, there are common learnings and lessons that can be applied. Each approach can be effective – and in fact has been effective for NS Power. Perhaps you are starting small…. Or perhaps you are starting big… or somewhere in between. In any case, our Tale of Two Deployments will share with you NSPI’s experiences, and share of the benefits and challenges of each.

Originally presented at MainTrain 2021