“ Hydro Maintenance Re - engineering within the Snowy Mountains Scheme ”

The Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority has recently undertaken a program of analysing the routine maintenance completed on its main generation and hydraulic assets. Power industry deregulation and increasing competition have created the need to reduce costs while increasing productivity. Along with downsizing and organisational restructuring, considerable effort has been placed on improving processes and work methods. It is in this context that the objective to “better align maintenance policies and plans with the operating context (market driven), eliminating non value adding maintenance and implementing the best maintenance practices and techniques” was established as a strategic business issue.