ABSTRACT
Profitable operation of a combined cycle power plant during its lifetime requires maximizing its availability and reliability. Plant maintenance comprises routine inspection and scheduled overhaul of major equipment as well as more mundane balance of plant equipment to ensure maximum availability and reliability. This chapter covers basic combined cycle power plant maintenance activities, different gas turbine original equipment manufacturer (OEM) approaches to keep track of their products’ wear and tear and scheduled maintenance, associated terminology and calculation methods, and costs involved in different maintenance programs using realistic data and examples. Important failure mechanisms, how they can be prevented and ramifications of ignoring basic maintenance practices (e.g., monitoring feed water quality) are also covered in this chapter.
