Gladstone Power Station demineralised water plant asset strategy development

Abstract

[Abstract]: Gladstone Power Station (GPS), situated on the central Queensland coast, is approaching the end of its original design life and many of its systems are beginning to show signs of age. Recent years have seen station reliability begin to reflect the aged condition of the plant. In the last two years contracts have been entered into that require the power station to be capable of operation at the original design output until the year 2029. Given the requirement to operate for close to a further 20 years and the plant performance at the time, it was clear to station management that a change of direction was required. It was at this point that the Senior Management Team (SMT) decided to embrace a formal asset management (AM) system in order to achieve its business goals. Gladstone Power Station has been divided into smaller more manageable asset areas. Each asset area has been analysed by the AM work group to identify which areas to begin the task of reviewing and building asset strategies for. The water demineralisation (demin) plant, part of the chemical asset area, was identified as one of the plants requiring review and development of its asset strategy. Development of the demin plant asset management strategy forms the basis of this dissertation.