Needed: ASAP Approach

Risk assessment and management are key elements in any well-developed asset management plan, and an increasing number of utilities are devoting resources to the tasks of improving their understanding of and capability to make risk-based decisions. Consequently, there is growing interest in the tools and methodologies required to better assess equipment performance and risk and provide quantitative information to drive asset management decision processes. In addition, risk and performance assessment tools can be integrated into smart grid implementations, turning smart-grid-generated equipment status data into information and providing timely equipment and system condition and risk exposure metrics in order to improve operating reliability efficiency. A suite of integrated risk and performance tools for substation equipment has been developed and demonstrated with the application of algorithms to power transformers and high-voltage circuit breakers.