Optimal Maintenance Strategy for Power Transmission Infrastructure

Abstract

In modern electricity markets, reducing operational costs while improving reliability is a primary concern for power system operators. However, Nigeria's aging power transmission network remains vulnerable, necessitating the implementation of optimal maintenance strategies to enhance system reliability. This study introduces a method for mitigating degradation in transmission components through condition-based maintenance, using a hybrid approach that combines the nonhomogeneous continuous time Markov chain (NHCTMC) for system state detection and the differential evolution (DE) algorithm for optimizing maintenance actions. The method is tested on a substation transmission network under various maintenance scenarios. Results indicate a significant improvement in system reliability (90.3%) and an efficient condition-based maintenance strategy achieving 91.3% power delivery. This approach offers promising potential for enhancing the power delivery capacity of the network.