Power System Reliability and Maintenance Evolution: A Critical Review and Future Perspectives

In the last two decades, the number of strategies for planning the maintenance of power systems have increased considerably. As societal dependence on power system infrastructure continues to grow, there is an increased need to identify the best practices in the field of power system maintenance planning to ensure the continued reliable operation of the grid. This paper presents a comprehensive and systematic state-of-the-art review of advances in power system maintenance and the significance for the field of power system reliability. As the main contributions, this paper systematically organizes the published literature, and analyses the most relevant milestones in the context of power systems adequacy and security enhancement, producing a taxonomy of the different maintenance strategies. This includes detailing existing approaches for power system maintenance planning, and providing clear definitions, models, methods, and characteristics of maintenance policy. The review also includes the most relevant standards employed in the power system maintenance field. Finally, areas requiring further research are identified alongside emerging trends in power system maintenance, to inform industry practice and support further research.