Planning of plant refurbishment

The authors describe four very different types of plant refurbishment planning-three hydro stations which can be classified as mini, small and conventional and one thermal station. The circumstances leading to refurbishment are quite different for each project described, but having made the decision, the route to implementation should be reasonably conventional. The most important ingredient in planning is defining the scope of work. On site inspection and testing is essential as review of operation and maintenance logs and discussions with power house staff can give leads as to what needs to be done. Investment at this stage-including the loss of generation while machines are being inspected-will remove many delays and financial shocks during implementation.