Multiple criteria assessment of substation conditions by pair-wise comparison of analytic hierarchy process

In this paper, the authors present a procedure of assessing equipment health for substation maintenance and upgrade planning based on the pair-wise comparison of analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The developed tool for substation asset management measures and visualizes the health conditions of substation equipment in multiple criteria. The criteria selected are to evaluate such issues as age, load factor, the number of obsolete equipment, equipment showing symptoms of failure, the same type equipment as the one failed, noise levels (the degree of achievement of noise regulation), and the amount of PCB-contaminated insulation oil. The assessment also considers the estimated changes in future years. Priority weights for the assessment criteria, differing in physical measurement units, are aggregated by the pair-wise comparison of AHP. The developed assessment procedure was applied to 74 substations in the Tokyo Electric Power service areas to evaluate its effectiveness and practicality.