Improving your company's P&C performance

All areas of the utility system are under increasing pressures to operate more reliably and more efficiently. The ability to increase reliability by coordinated changes to generation sources and transmission lines has steadily decreased. One area of the business that offers increasing opportunities to improve reliability is in the effective implementation and utilization of protection and control systems. The processes for selecting, implementing, using, and maintaining protection and control systems are typically spread among many groups within the utility organization. This paper identifies the processes that are required to effectively implement and utilize P&C systems. Each process is then explained and suggestions are offered to improve the processes. Many of the examples and suggestions are derived from the "best practices" of a number of utilities. The paper will demonstrate what most of us already know-the best "bang for the buck" in reliability enhancement is achieved with investments in effective use of PC systems.