Hydro-Québec’s new approach for asset management

Abstract

Hydro-Québec TransÉnergie (HQT) has been employing predictive modelling methods to manage its assets for over a decade. To meet new needs and to respond to changes in the energy market, HQT undertakes an important research project in order to improve existing tools for asset management and modelling system. In this paper, we present a quick review of the global asset management model at HQT. Furthermore, we introduce a Contingency Analysis (CA) approach which will be integrated in the reliability simulator module of the HQT global asset management model. To this end, we augment the traditional bus-branch data model to provide a detailed node-breaker representation that contains detailed nodes, breakers and other switching devices. Then, we analyze the impact of the equipment unavailability on the network behaviour using a detailed CA approach. This contingency analysis approach not only informs the asset management engineers in case of violations, but also suggests several remedial actions to eliminate the violation.