Hawkins was honoured to sponsor the Onshore Energy Conference in London again this year. Head of Power and Energy, Ben Adams, delivered a focus group session on Managing Ageing Assets. There is still a large fleet of older thermal assets in operation worldwide performing services outside of their original design intent. Ben highlighted the challenges of managing these ageing power plants, based on his experience of working with the previous generation of power stations.
Ben discussed the life cycle of different assets and the many issues that can cause them to age. For example, steam turbines suffer from creep at the hot end, whilst at the low-pressure end, water erosion can cause problems. Operating hours, stop-starts, and cycles of load and temperature can also accelerate the ageing of assets.
He explained the different ways in which ageing plants can be effectively managed through:
- Careful planning and investment
- Testing
- Focusing on the full plant including emergency back-ups, not only the main plant items
- Ensuring that good procedures, processes and people are in place
Ben is a power plant electrical engineer and internationally recognised generator expert investigating major and complex electrical plant insurance losses in over 40 countries since joining Hawkins. He has acted as an expert witness in international arbitration, whilst regularly providing consultancy issues to power plants.
Ben was joined by power and energy experts: Simon Batt, Dr Gerald Deshais, and Dr Amir Hajdaei, along with Business Development Manager, Graeme Drysdale. All of whom were on hand to explain how our team of forensic experts can investigate a range of losses in power generation equipment. From traditional thermal and nuclear power plants through to wind, hydro and solar generation, as well as emerging technologies such as battery and flywheel installations, our team of experts can assist at any stage of a forensic investigation.
If you would like Ben or any of our power and energy experts to present or investigate a loss for your organisation, please get in touch with us.
