Online, August 12, 2015 (Newswire.com) - DENVER, CO - The hydro-generation industry has increased appetite for efficient, cost-effective and sustainable lifecycles. Plants can decrease operational needs and increase asset longevity while finding solutions for exhaustion and deterioration. The industry is taking a greater look at the methods being implemented and strategizing plans to cope with the rising asset deterioration and plant efficiency
Rodney Pickett, Asset Management Engineering Manager at Avista Corporation recently spoke with marcus evans about leading topics to be discussed at their upcoming 5th Annual Hydro Plant Maintenance & Reliability Conference, November 3-5, 2015 in Denver, CO.
What interests you about your position as asset manager at Avista?
RP: I get to help others develop the right maintenance and replacement strategy that makes sense. At the end of the analysis and report, I know we made a difference and came to the right answer. The process at getting to the answer is what really interests me about my job. I like the analysis and modeling of our assets we perform and how in the end we provide a complete picture. When we see the actual results and the project results and they agree, we know that we made the right decision and are getting the most out of our assets.
How much of change have you seen in performance improvements at Avista through optimizing and monitoring plans?
RP: When you monitor the results, provide feedback on the results, and monitor again, you see changes and improvement. We have seen improved performance for several asset classes and usually sooner than anticipated.
How do finances and other funds fall into evaluation of assets?
RP: The differences between Capital and Expense funding is huge in an Investor Owned Utility (IOU) for our financial analysis. Because Capital dollars affect customer rates very differently than expense dollars, the capital spending strategies tend to provide the best option to our customers.
Why is it so important to optimize the time an asset is in use before it is pulled out of operations?
RP: Classical wisdom says that the optimal time to replace an asset is just before it fails. This works if we can accurately predict the hour a component would fail. However, we deal with probabilities and consequences to determine risk costs. Sometimes the risk costs drive us to replace an asset before its anticipated end of life. If the risk costs are low enough, you run an asset until it fails. If the risk costs are very high, you replace the asset years before its anticipated end of life.
What are you looking forward to most about speaking at the Hydro Plant Maintenance Conference?
RP: Learning from other speakers and attendees about their experiences in managing their assets. You always see or hear something new to you that you can take home.
Rodney Pickett is the Asset Management Engineering Manager for Avista Utilities, a medium sized electric and natural gas utility providing energy to portions of eastern Washington, northern Idaho, and portions of southern Oregon. He works with asset owners within the company to develop optimized maintenance and replacement strategies. Prior to his time at Avista, he worked 16 years in the military and government nuclear programs before joining Avista 15 years ago. At Avista, Rodney worked in hydro generation for four years and for the last 10 years he has been working in Asset Management. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Idaho and a Master of Technology Management from Washington State University and is a member of the Institute of Asset Management.
For more information regarding the highly anticipated marcus evans 5th Hydro Plant Maintenance & Reliability Conference, please check out the conference website or contact Nicolette Fiordirosa, Marketing & PR Coordinator, marcus evans at 312-894-6327 or nicolettef@marcusevansch.com.
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