The POWER Podcast

People around the world are searching for ways to decarbonize, and green hydrogen is a fuel that can help in that effort. Green hydrogen is produced through electrolysis using renewable energy, such as wind and solar power. Although most hydrogen produced today is made from natural gas, often referred to as gray hydrogen, new capacity is being added regularly to increase the amount of green hydrogen available to consumers. “We’re in the process of a major transformation in energy, and I think many people—people like Goldman and Bloomberg—believe that we’re going to be helping reduce the carbon footprint of the world by 20% by using hydrogen,” Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug Power, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. Although talk of a hydrogen economy may seem to some observers to be a relatively new development, Marsh noted that Plug Power has been in the fuel cell and hydrogen business for a quarter century. “What we’re kind of renowned for is that we created the first market for fuel cells,” Marsh explained. “We ended up putting fuel cells into forklift trucks for people like Walmart or Amazon.” However, the energy transition is the driving force behind recent growth. “All these activities have a lot to do with job creation. Over the past two and a half years, Plug has created over 2,300 jobs. Now, we have 3,000 employees,” said Marsh. “When I sit back and look at it, about 20% of our employees made the transition from the oil and gas fossil fuel industry to a clean energy. And finally, with everything going on in Ukraine, everybody’s beginning to realize that it’s so important for folks in the free world to be able to strive for energy independence. And I think hydrogen—the fact that you can create green hydrogen from green electricity that can be locally sourced—really is unique and can be used in such a wide variety of applications.” Marsh suggested the best use of green hydrogen today is as a substitute for gray hydrogen used in the steel and fertilizer industries. The switch would be a big step toward cleaning up these hard-to-decarbonize sectors. “That’s the biggest opportunity in the near term,” he said. Delivery van applications, such as for Amazon, UPS, FedEx, and others, offer another opportunity for hydrogen. While Marsh admitted there’s going to be a lot of electric vehicles operated as delivery vans, he suggested fuel cells offer a more attractive option in some cases. Referencing a study conducted by DHS, Marsh said when going greater than 150 miles and as van sizes increase, fuel cells make good sense. In early 2021, Plug and Renault launched a joint venture (JV) in France. The partners are targeting a 30% share of the fuel cell–powered light commercial vehicle market in Europe. When it comes to transporting hydrogen, Marsh suggested pipelines are vital. He offered an example to make his point, saying hydrogen could be moved a certain distance through a pipeline for roughly 3¢ to 4¢ per kilogram (kg), whereas, moving it the same distance as liquid hydrogen might cost 20¢/kg and in gaseous form via trucks might cost 80¢/kg. “For this to be cost-effective, pipelines are really important,” he said.

“Wyoming is the energy state,” Scott Quillinan, senior director of research for the School of Energy Resources at the University of Wyoming, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “Our mission here at the School of Energy Resources is energy-driven economic development for the state of Wyoming. … We support the energy industry here through academic programs, research programs, and outreach and engagement.” One of the School of Energy Resources’ flagship projects is the Wyoming Integrated Test Center (ITC) located at Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Dry Fork Station, about seven miles north of Gillette. “They have five small test bays and one large test bay,” Quillinan explained. “There you can test some things like amine capture. You can test membrane capture. You can test things like using carbon dioxide to make cement or to make other products,” he said. Next to the ITC is a project called the Wyoming CarbonSAFE, which stands for Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise. It is one of 13 original carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) project sites in the U.S. funded by the Department of Energy with the ultimate goal of ensuring carbon storage complexes will be ready for integrated CCUS system deployment. “Wyoming CarbonSAFE is looking at the commercial feasibility of carbon storage directly below Dry Fork station,” said Quillinan. “This project is looking at storing at least 2 million tons of CO2 per year in a stack storage complex directly below this facility. And that project is run out of our office here at the School of Energy Resources. So, eventually, all said and done, we’ll have the newest, cleanest coal-fired power plant in the United States, a research and development center looking at carbon capture and utilization, and a field laboratory looking at carbon storage. So, it’s really, really neat how it’s all coming together.” The school is also focused on diversifying the state’s coal-based economy. It’s doing that by developing novel and marketable products derived from coal. “We like to take a piece of coal, break it all the way down to its different components, and build it back up into some value-added product,” Quillinan explained. Some examples include agricultural soil amendments, asphalt and paving materials, and roofing and construction materials including coal-based bricks. “Today on campus, we’re currently building a demonstration house completely out of coal-based bricks,” said Quillinan. “Right next door to it, we’re building a demonstration house out of conventional materials so that we can test the performance from one house to the other—things like toxicity, fire performance, sound absorption, heat absorption. So, it’s a really neat program.” In addition to the carbon capture and storage, and carbon engineering product programs, the third pillar of the university’s carbon-based research involves rare earth elements and critical mineral extractions from coal seams. “It turns out the Powder River Basin coal seams have elevated concentrations of rare earth elements, and in some cases, that elevated concentration lies in the two to three feet of overburden directly above or below some of the coal seams,” Quillinan explained. Rare earth elements and critical minerals are used in many electronics components, non-reflective glass, batteries, and renewable energy technologies, among other things. About 90% of rare earth elements and critical minerals used today are mined overseas, many of them in China. With the current state of world affairs, having domestic supplies for these vital materials could be important to national security. “We’re pretty excited about this program and what it can do to bring some of that market back domestically, but to Wyoming specifically,” Quillinan said.

Some cybersecurity experts believe hackers pose a greater threat than ever to power plants and electric grids. Much of the operational technology (OT) used in power stations and throughout the grid was installed at a time when cybersecurity was more of an afterthought than a focal point in the design process. Furthermore, the pool of bad actors has grown increasingly large and complex, including nation states, activist groups, organized crime syndicates, malicious company insiders, thrill seekers, and a bevy of other folks with a variety of untoward motivations. Hackers are found in all parts of the world, meaning unscrupulous activity is occurring around the clock. The troublemakers aren’t always looking to deploy cyber warfare strategies on the spot, but rather, they often want to gain access to systems so they can cause chaos when the action would be most beneficial to their cause and/or most inconvenient for the system. People in the power sector haven’t been oblivious to the threat. A skilled group of professionals has been assembled to monitor systems and develop countermeasures to thwart possible attacks. Still, the vectors and tactics utilized by hackers are constantly evolving, which makes the task of protecting OT systems challenging. “What worries me right now about the threat landscape overall is that I see it accelerating, in particular, in the OT or the industrial cybersecurity environment,” Ian Bramson, global head of Industrial Cybersecurity at ABS Consulting, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. It’s not only the frequency of attacks that has changed, but also the kinds of attacks, what’s being targeted, how systems are being hit, the goals of the instigators, and the people responsible for the offenses have all shifted, he said. Bramson believes the conflict in Ukraine has increased cyber risks. “It’s what I call a multi-player game now,” he said. As an example, he mentioned a hacker group that goes by the name “Anonymous.” Days after the war in Ukraine began, Bramson said the group announced it had “declared war” on Russia. Anonymous is not based in Ukraine or affiliated with the country in any known way, it simply decided to take a stand against Russia in response to the country’s aggression. While that in itself doesn’t seem to pose a great threat to U.S. systems, it increases cyber activity overall and could presumably encourage pro-Russian hackers to seek revenge, taking aim at Western targets in response. Furthermore, Bramson suggested much of the cyber activity that’s being undertaken by Russia and its supporters is politically motivated. Attacks are one way, for example, that Russia could try to fight back against sanctions enacted by European countries and the U.S. without firing missiles and starting a physical war with the West. “All that is increasing the pace of attack. So, I think it absolutely is increasing the threat environment for anyone here,” Bramson said. “And it brings that battle—that war—into our systems, into our devices, into our operations of our power and energy plants. That’s where a lot of these conflicts are going to be playing out and that’s what we have to be on guard for.”

Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems are often installed to protect critical equipment and loads from power outages, and other voltage and current problems. Many UPS systems continuously regulate the input power, thereby maintaining a constant and uniform supply of electricity. UPS systems are typically used on computer hardware or other equipment where an unexpected power disruption could cause fatalities, serious business disruption, or data loss, such as at data centers, telecommunication facilities, hospitals, and power plants. While UPS systems have batteries and obviously store energy, they are not synonymous with standard battery energy storage systems that are commonly being added to the power grid these days. In fact, UPS systems are often not allowed to export power to the grid. However, that doesn’t mean they can’t serve a useful purpose in lowering energy bills and providing a return on investment to owners. “Historically, UPSs are sitting there waiting for something bad to happen—they were kind of insurance devices,” Yaron Binder, vice president of Product Management with SolarEdge Critical Power, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “But I think there’s a growing understanding that these could also double as an energy storage system, and actually create some kind of benefit, let’s say, revenue for the customer, apart from just sitting there waiting for the power to go out.” In the past, many UPS systems used lead-acid batteries, which were not a good fit for cycling operations. Today, however, many UPSs have lithium-ion batteries, which are much better suited to regular cycling. Therefore, there is less downside to using a UPS for more than just emergencies. Binder said there are many clever ways to utilize UPSs. “One of the things you can do, for example, is use the UPS as a demand response component,” he said. Although, as previously mentioned, owners may not be able to export power directly to the grid, they can reduce their power demand when electricity prices spike by using their UPS to power in-house needs. This will save money when prices are high and the UPS can be recharged when power prices have returned to a lower rate. Of course, a minimum charge level must be maintained to support the UPSs main function, which is to provide power to critical equipment during an emergency. Another innovative solution that can save owners money is to basically levelize power demand spikes using the UPS. “Sometimes you can use that battery to defer an increase in the site infrastructure,” Binder said. He referenced a hospital that he worked with where this was done. The hospital had two medical scanners that consumed a lot of energy when they were powered up. However, the demand was much lower while patients were actually being tested by the machines. “We had a case where putting in those two scanners was drawing more power than what the distribution panel was able to do, but upgrading that distribution panel was very, very expensive,” explained Binder. To solve the problem, the UPS was used during startup, and then as the load lessened during the test, the UPS returned to its normal standby role. “That way, we were able to use that battery and defer that infrastructure upgrade. So, that was another nice use for a UPS,” said Binder.

Hydrogen is widely seen as a vital component in efforts to decarbonize the world’s power supply. One example of this is a strategy being piloted by at least a couple of major gas turbine manufacturers, which involves storing “green hydrogen” produced through electrolysis using excess wind or solar power when renewable energy supplies exceed grid demand. Then, when the tables turn and demand exceeds renewable energy supplies, the carbon-free green hydrogen is burned in combustion turbines to provide sustainable clean energy to the grid. It’s not a perfectly efficient energy conversion, but it is a method that can be used essentially as a renewable energy storage mechanism, reducing demand for fossil fuels. The movement of hydrogen is not so simple though. Today, hydrogen is transported from the point of production to the point of use via pipeline and over the road in cryogenic liquid tanker trucks or gaseous tube trailers. Because hydrogen has a relatively low volumetric energy density, its transportation, storage, and final delivery to the point of use comprise a significant cost and result in some of the energy inefficiencies associated with using it as an energy carrier. However, ammonia offers one possible solution for the hydrogen transport problem. The chemical formula for ammonia is NH3. Like hydrogen, ammonia can be combusted in gas turbines and reciprocating engines. Unlike hydrogen, however, ammonia can be more easily transported and stored in liquid form, something fertilizer companies have been doing for decades. “Hydrogen is really being looked at as a key means of transporting energy around the world and fueling the world in an environment where carbon emissions aren’t acceptable,” Erik Mayer, vice president of Clean Energy Solutions with CF Industries, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “We convert large quantities of hydrogen into ammonia, currently for the fertilizer market but ultimately that same ammonia molecule is being looked at as an efficient way of being able to move hydrogen molecules around the world, whether they’re sourced from natural gas or whether they’re sourced from electrolysis.” Mayer said the advantage ammonia offers over hydrogen is that it is a liquid at moderately low temperatures and can be stored as liquid under relatively low pressure, similar to how liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is stored. Concerning how the ammonia is used, Mayer said there are two possible ways: ammonia can be burned directly or it can be “cracked,” that is, decomposed over a catalyst, back to hydrogen. Because there are no carbon atoms in ammonia, there is no CO2 released when it is burned in either case. A downside of burning ammonia is that it produces relatively high NOx emissions. Mayer said those can be somewhat managed through combustion controls, but ultimately, there are proven technologies such as selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems that can be used to keep NOx emissions within required limits. One big application that CF Industries sees as a growth opportunity for ammonia is as a marine fuel. “The marine industry uses large quantities of bunker fuel to do these transoceanic voyages, and the amount of energy required makes it impossible for them to convert to something like batteries,” Mayer said. “Some of the larger marine engine manufacturers are planning to be able to inject ammonia in replacement of carbon-based fuels, almost to 100%, and they think that technology will be fully developed in the next couple of years.”

Tuesday, March 8, was International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. One woman who has achieved great success is Amani al Hosani, a nuclear engineer in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). “I was born and raised in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. I got my bachelor in science in chemical engineering from UAE University, and then worked in the oil and gas industry—ADNOC Onshore—for almost two years as a process engineer,” Hosani said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “Then, I was awarded a scholarship to pursue my education in nuclear engineering, and I graduated in 2012 with a Master’s in nuclear engineering and was hired by the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation [ENEC] as a simulator engineer. Currently, I work as the Unit 3 shift supervisor at Barakah nuclear power plant.” The Barakah nuclear plant is a four-unit station being constructed in the Al Dhafra region of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi on the Arabian Gulf, approximately 53 kilometers west-southwest of the city of Ruwais. Barakah Unit 1 entered commercial operation on April 1, 2021. Unit 2 was connected to the UAE grid in August 2021, and commercial operation is expected in the coming months. Construction of Unit 3 was completed in November 2021 and that unit is currently undergoing operational readiness preparations, while Unit 4 is in the final stages of commissioning with construction completion standing at 92%. Hosani has seen the Barakah project spring to life before her very eyes. In 2009, ENEC CEO Mohamed Al Hammadi invited her class, which was the first class of nuclear engineering graduates in the UAE, to visit the site. “They drove us two and a half hours from Abu Dhabi into the middle of the desert—in the middle of nowhere,” Hosani recalled on the podcast. “All that we were able to see was four signs standing there with numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4. And then, His Excellency, Mohamed Al Hammadi, was leaning toward me and telling me, ‘You see those signs? Here is where we are going to build Units 1, 2, 3, and 4.’ There was nothing there.” Fast forward to today, and the site looks very different (Figure 1). Now, the plants have been constructed and Unit 1 is in commercial operation. “It was a wonderful journey,” said Hosani. “I really feel so proud that I’m part of this organization and this major historical project in this region.” Hosani hasn’t been the only woman involved in the project. Women have made up a larger percentage of ENEC’s workforce than is typical in the nuclear industry. Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi, noted in November 2017 that 23% of professionals working at ENEC at the time were women and that approximately 10% of employees at the Barakah plant were female. “Here in the UAE, we strongly believe in the equality of men and women, both in society and in professional development,” she said during a presentation. “From the very beginning of the UAE Peaceful Nuclear Energy Program, we emphasized strongly the need to bring more women into the nuclear industry and into what is generally considered a male-dominated sector around the world.” While the percentage of women in the ENEC workforce has decreased to about 20% today, as the workforce has grown significantly and the percentage of women added has not quite kept pace, Hosani said women still play an important role in the UAE’s nuclear power sector. “You can see women confidently and competently leading their teams in either non-technical supportive roles or in technical specialized roles,” she said. “For a relatively young organization, I’m proud looking around me and seeing women working as local operators, reactor operators, shift supervisors, radiation protection, chemistry, engineering, maintenance, you name it, and every single person is very well trained and qualified to assume their role. So, they are adding great value to the organization.”

Many power companies have been facing challenges when trying to attract high-quality recruits in the increasingly competitive labor market for engineers and other workers with technical backgrounds This podcast touches on one place qualified candidates can be found to fill some of those high-tech positions—the military. This episode includes input from William Newell, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force. Will recently transitioned from the military to a job in the power sector. Will’s story is unique and provides details about what worked for him. It offers an inside look at the job search process and shows how military experience prepares people to step right in and take charge of projects in the civilian world. Amy West, recruiting team leader with Orion Talent, the nation’s largest military recruitment firm, said, “The biggest skillset that we’re asked to find is technical talent. The military offers the best technical training program, in my opinion, in the world. Nothing prepares you like the military does to work on technical systems.” West would know, having herself been a gas turbine electrician in the U.S. Navy. Yet, even with his significant training and formal education, as well as the hands-on experience he had, Newell felt the anxiety many people experience when leaving the military. “I was extremely nervous,” Newell recalled. He had “a great support system of friends and family,” all of whom were assuring him that there were jobs available and he was “desired by the industry,” but that didn’t instantly calm his fears. What helped, however, was speaking with his brother-in-law, who had transitioned from the U.S. Army to the civilian world. In the process of his employment search, Newell’s brother-in-law had attended a job fair where he connected with Orion. Although he felt somewhat out of place initially, because all the other candidates in the room were officers in the military while he was enlisted, Orion’s staff made Newell’s brother-in-law feel welcome and “treated him really well.” In the end, Orion helped get him a job that he really liked, and he has since been promoted. His brother-in-law’s experience convinced Newell to seek Orion’s help too. One thing Newell wasn’t sure of, though, was how his experience would translate to a job outside of the military. He knew he could work on airplanes, of course, but he was ready for a change, so the question was, what else could he do. “In my head, I had never made the correlation to the job that I’m currently working,” he said. “I didn’t know that data centers, power plants, and everyone had these large battery backup systems that require constant maintenance and such heavy support that there is a need for a technician like myself to come service them all the time.” That’s where Orion really provided value. “We usually start when a new candidate comes into our system with an initial screening call,” West explained. “We get to know the candidate. We learn about what they did in the military—how they’re looking to leverage those skills in the private sector. And then from there, we try to make suggestions and present opportunities based on a combination of skillset and interest, and we use a lot of different techniques to narrow it down.”

Many experts believe hydrogen holds great promise as a clean energy resource that can help nations achieve carbon-free goals. Green hydrogen, which is made from water through electrolysis powered by renewable energy, could be used to decarbonize a wide range of hard-to-abate industries, including petrochemical, cement, and steel, which often require high temperatures and combustion that cannot be achieved with standard wind and solar power. Hydrogen can also be used in mobility applications and as an energy storage medium, among other things, so the future looks very bright for this up-and-coming energy sector. “Looking at this large, growing market; the projects that we see emerging so fastly; the transport and the pipeline tasks in front of us—the infrastructure; and the industry use sectors just starting to be developed, it looks like we are all climbing the Himalaya and we have just left the base camp, but we are very motivated to go further,” Dr. Hans Dieter Hermes, vice president Clean Hydrogen with Worley, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. Hermes is “very excited” about the hydrogen market. Worley, an engineering company headquartered in Australia with a worldwide team of about 48,000 consultants, engineers, construction workers, and data scientists, is currently implementing more than 120 hydrogen projects worldwide, he said. While that number may seem large from a historical perspective, the growth in hydrogen projects required to decarbonize even a few of the sectors mentioned above is mindboggling. For example, Hermes, who is based in Berlin, said if Germany’s heavy-truck fleet were to be powered from hydrogen instead of fossil fuels, the country would need to ramp up today’s production of hydrogen by a factor of 100. “And I’m not talking about buses, not talking about trains, not even talking about fertilizer industry, chemical industry, or steel, or heating the houses, just only the heavy-truck fleet,” he said. As another example, Hermes pointed to household heating. To supply all German households with hydrogen heating fuel, existing production would need to be increased by a factor of 830. “This gives us an idea of the size of the task that is in front of us,” he said. While many companies are investing in green hydrogen technology, high production costs currently pose a barrier to widespread adoption. Today, most hydrogen is produced from natural gas, which is typically considered grey hydrogen, or blue hydrogen when carbon capture technology is utilized. For green hydrogen production costs to come down, facilities will need an accessible and abundant renewable energy supply, and, perhaps even more importantly, further advancement and scale-up of electrolyzer technology. Still, Hermes expects that to happen fairly quickly based on cost curves observed in other developing power sectors. Specifically, he pointed to the offshore wind industry as an example. He said 10 or 20 years ago, every offshore foundation was a pilot project and costs were very high. Nowadays, the industry is very mature and costs have come down dramatically. “I expect that the same will happen with the hydrogen sector. We already see a very steep cost reduction,” he said. Cost reductions to date have come by integrating lessons learned from earlier projects and also through new developments that have been triggered by a growing market demand. Looking ahead to 2050, Hermes sees several “boosts and barriers” along the way. “On the positive side, I could already mention technology development, the market development, and cooperation,” he said. “On the barrier side, the regulatory frameworks, and the infrastructure, and how to get finance into that sector.”

In February 2021, a severe cold weather event, known as Winter Storm Uri, caused numerous power outages, derates, or failures to start at electric generating plants scattered across Texas and the south-central U.S. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages the power supply for about 90% of the load in Texas, ordered a total of 20,000 MW of rolling blackouts in an effort to prevent grid collapse. According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), this was “the largest manually controlled load shedding event in U.S. history.” More than 4.5 million people in Texas lost power—some for as long as four days. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information reported that the event resulted in 226 deaths nationwide and cost an estimated $24 billion. There has been a lot of finger pointing surrounding the blackouts that occurred. Several studies have been done into the causes, including one spearheaded by FERC, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC), and NERC’s regional entities. The key finding from the FERC/NERC report was that a critical need exists “for stronger mandatory electric reliability standards, particularly with respect to generator cold weather-critical components and systems.” The study found that a combination of freezing issues (44.2%) and fuel issues (31.4%) caused 75.6% of the unplanned generating unit outages, derates, and failures to start. But Bernard McNamee, a former FERC commissioner, and current partner with the law firm McGuireWoods and a senior advisor at McGuireWoods Consulting, suggested the study missed the real cause of the problem. Speaking as a guest on The POWER Podcast, McNamee said, “I think the reality is, is that there was a market design problem in Texas, and that was that, as you had more subsidized resources driving down the overall cost of power, you’re not providing enough financial incentive for other dispatchable resources to harden their systems—winterize their systems—to be available when the wind wasn’t blowing or the sun wasn’t shining.” McNamee didn’t blame power generators for being ill-prepared. He suggested they simply made decisions based on cost-benefit analysis. “Why would you [spend money on weatherization] if you’re a natural gas company or generator and you think you’re going to make most of your money, you know, five to 10 days in the summer? You’re not expecting to operate in the winter and make money, [so] why would you spend the capital that you’re not going to be able to recover?” McNamee asked. “I think that the market design is something that has not been talked about enough [and] was one of the leading causes of what happened,” McNamee said. “I think what happened in the winter storm in Texas, and what happened in August of 2020 in California, were really warning signs for the rest of the country about how we really need to pay attention to market design, and maybe costs that aren’t being priced into the market but that are necessary for reliability.” However, McNamee also doesn’t blame the growth of renewable resources for the problem. “It doesn't mean that wind and solar are bad. They provide some great benefits,” he said. “It’s not that one resource is good or bad. It’s thinking about how does the system all work together, so it’s there when you need it 24/7. And it can’t be, ‘Well, on average, the power will be available.’ It’s got to be available every moment.”

There are countless risks associated with power plant operations. For example, the risk of equipment failure is present in virtually every power plant system. In some cases, the risk is very low and could even be inconsequential. In others, it’s much higher and could be catastrophic, not only to plant operation, but also to the health and safety of workers. Understanding where the greatest risks lie and acting to reduce the likelihood of an unwanted incident should be high on every plant manager’s to-do list. Digital technology has made the task of managing risk much easier. Tools are available today that can organize data and help users evaluate where the most probable and/or consequential failures are likely to occur. For example, risk-based asset integrity management (AIM) software, which often uses data imported from a plant historian or other legacy software systems, can sort and prioritize data to identify areas of concern and provide insight for decision-makers. There are several companies that offer AIM products. One is Antea, a company founded in Italy more than 30 years ago. Antea’s platform features a number of different modules that can be configured to meet the needs of clients in the oil & gas, power generation, and chemical process industries. Among the most important of these modules is IDMS (inspection data management system). “IDMS is the key,” Floyd Baker, vice president for Antea North America, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. Baker explained that inspection data, such as from ultrasonic, radiographic, or other testing, can be collected and stored in the IDMS. This allows users to do a number of things, such as monitor and trend corrosion, schedule follow-up inspections, and perhaps most importantly, plan repairs. “We can forecast the useful life of that asset so that one can either make repairs beforehand or plan replacements,” said Baker. Antea’s platform also includes an RBI (risk-based inspection) module. The company claims the most effective way to prevent unplanned downtime is with RBI. It determines inspection frequency according to an asset’s individual risk level, which can dramatically reduce spending and focus resources on the most critical equipment. Baker explained: “You wouldn’t want to be spending millions of maintenance dollars out inspecting a water tank, when in fact those dollars could be focused more on say, high-pressure piping or something that could cause a real catastrophic event. So, this methodology takes into account the real risk—how it’s going to affect them from a safety perspective, from a financial perspective, even from an environmental perspective—takes all of this stuff into several algorithms and calculates the risk that you assume on any given asset. When you look at that risk, say on a matrix, then you can actually figure out where you need to focus your maintenance dollars in order to reduce that risk.” Risk is assessed in multiple ways. In some cases, including at some power plants, it’s done using a qualitative risk assessment model. “The end user—the plant operators—would actually provide input on what risk looks like to them,” Baker said. In other cases, such as at many refineries and chemical plants, risk is assessed quantitatively. That’s done using recommendations developed by the American Petroleum Institute (API), and published in its “Risk-based Inspection” API Recommended Practice (RP) 580 and “Risk-Based Inspection Methodology” API RP 581. One of the benefits of utilizing digital technology is the transparency these tools provide. “It creates total transparency, especially for the C-suite level,” Baker said. “Using a platform like this actually creates the transparency that all people—up, down, and across the organization—can actually have access to key performance indicators and dashboards to understand better where that risk is at and what their teams are doing to mitigate that risk.”