NERC GADS Introduction to pc-GAR and pc-GAR MT - SERC Home ...

NERC GADS Introduction to 

pc-GAR and pc-GAR MT 

October 28. 2011

Data Sources 

Generator 

“B” 


“C” 


“D” 


“A” 

GADS 


“E” 

280+ Generators Reporting 5,900+ units, 

including international affiliates. 

2 RELIABILITY | ACCOUNTABILITY

What is pc-GAR? 

pc-G.A.R 

• Unique software 

product to allow access 

to the data collected in 

the GADS database. 

• It reports equipment 

outage information for 

the purpose of 

improving electric 

power output. 


Why pc-GAR? 

• Introduced in 1992 

• Created to: 

• Reduce the number of special studies produced annually. 

• Allow users quick access to GADS information. 

• Increase the need to maintain good outage records. 

• Only one of it’s kind in the world! 

• WEC wants to follow this example 


With data mining, you take advantage 

of past experience … 

you learn from the past to 

prepare for the future. 


Unit Types Available (12 choices) 

• Fossil 

• Fluidized bed fossil 

• Nuclear 

• Gas Turbine 

• Jet Engine 

• Diesel 

• Hydro 

• Pumped Storage 

• Combined Cycle 

• Geothermal 

• Co-generator 

• Multi-boiler/Multiturbine 


Units Selections 

• All Including Own 

• All Except Own 

• Own Units 

• United States Only 

• Canada Only 

• 2 Regions required for analysis 


Two Types of Variables 

• Class 

• “Yes” or “No” types 

• Super or sub-critical 

• General Electric or other 

manufacturer 

• Balanced or pressurized 

draft 

• Continuous 

• Range 

• MW size (1-1400 MW) 

• Steam Pressure (1-3600 

psig) 

• EAF (0-100%) 


Three Groups of Criteria 

Selection 

• Physical (class) 

• Example: # of pumps 

• Performance (continuous) 

• Example: # of service hours 

• Statistics (continuous) 

• Example: EFOR 


Help with pc-GAR 


Help #1 – Selecting Fuels 

• Two fuel selections 

• “As designed” means what the unit was designed to burn. 

• “Actual fuel burned” means what did the unit actually burn 

in the specific year. 

• 100% of the “actual burned” fuels 

• 90% of the “designed fuels” 


Help #1 – Selecting Fuels 

Actual Fuel Burned 

Design Fuel 


Help #2 – Apply Criteria By… 

• You can apply the performance/fuel criteria by either 

year or range. 

• Year – tests the criteria on a year by year basis. A unit may 

pass the test one year but not the next. Only the one year 

where it passed will be in the survey. 

• Range – tests the criteria on the average for the period you 

selected. If you picked a 5-year period for an EAF > 85%, 

then the average EAF for the period is tested. If it fails, that 

unit will be removed from the survey. 


Help #2 – Apply Criteria By… 

Accepted 

Accepted 

Rejected 

Accepted 

EAF = 90.40% 

EAF = 87.56% 

EAF = 84.55% 

EAF = 85.98% 

If criteria included 

EAF of 85% or 

greater, then 3 of 

4 years accepted using 

“Year” button. 

Accepted 

EAF = 86.91% 

If criteria included 

EAF of 85% or 

greater, then average EAF 

of 4 years accepted using 

“Range” button. 


Help #3 – for Years/for Periods 

• Events and performance data are divided into monthly 

intervals for retrieving and analyzing data by months, 

years, and multi-year periods. 

• When using less than one year, use: 

• “Annual/monthly Unit Summary Report” for viewing monthly 

numbers. 

• “Unit-year Statistical Report” for projections of how the unit 

would operate if operated in the same manner as the short 

period. 





Data pulled for months 01 to 12 for three years. 

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 

Jan Feb …. Nov Dec Jan Feb …. Nov Dec Jan Feb …. Nov Dec 

Data pulled for months 11 to 02 for three years. 

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 

Jan & Feb Nov to Feb Nov to Feb Nov Dec 


Help #4 – Adding/removing Units 

• pc-GAR allows you to add or remove youp own units 

from any selected group (“units included in report”) 

• You cannot remove units that NERC considers not 

yours (even if you are a part-owner.) “Ownership” 

(to NERC) is the organization reporting data to GADS. 



All own units 

Own units in 

report. 



First, select one unit 

at a time to move. 

Next, click on the 

Button to add own 

units to report. 



The unit is now 

added. 



To remove a unit 

from the report, 

first highlight the 

unit then 

click on the 

“remove unit” 

bottom. 



The unit is now back 

into the “own unit” list 

and out of the report. 


Help #5 – Same Peer Group 

• This procedure allows you to use the same group of 

units from one period to the next, assuming the same 

units reported in both periods. 

• First, select the group of units using the standard 

procedure for choosing a group. 

• Second, in “Menu of Reports,” choose “Report Data 

Range.” 

• Third, select a new period to analyze. 



Some criteria may 

change from one 

period to the next 

as shown here. 

Select criteria and 

then save. 



Select a new 

period here. 



Here you 

select a new 

period for 

analysis using 

the same 

group of units. 


Help #6 – Single, Own Unit Report 

• For when you want to create a pc-GAR report for 

just one of your own units. 

• Normal selection procedure for own units. 

• Remove all but the single unit from the “Units 

included 

in Report” section. 

• Apply criteria as “Reapply Criteria …” 



Choose “Own Units” 

to remove any units 

not under your 

control. 



Select the unit(s) you 

wanted to analyze. You 

can pick more than one 

if you want for a single 

group or show the 

performance of a plant. 

Suppose we want to 

see the performance of 

3 units. 



After removing all 

but the 3 units using 

the “remove unit” 

button, you return to 

the “Report Design” 

section of the 

Criteria Entry. 



Apply the Criteria. 



Choose the “event option” you want (see Help #7 

for details) and click “ok”. 



Select “Re-apply Criteria …” option to pull data for just the 3 units. 

If you use the other option, you’ll be back where you started with 

all of your own units. 



Now you have only 

3 units for your 

report. 

Save the file. 

Print the report as 

you normally do. 


Help #7 – Data Making Statistics 

• There are three options for choosing the units 

and data for making the statistics in the 

reports: 

• Units that report both event & performance records and 

units reporting performance data only. 

• Units that report both event and performance data only. 

• Units that report both event and performance data for all 

years of the period. 



This option includes all units reporting to GADS, whether 

they reported events data or not. 

This option may show differences in statistics like EAF, EFOR, 

EFORd, etc because not all units reported deratings. 



This option includes all units reporting to GADS where 

events are reported during the period being examined. 

This option will show accurate statistics like EAF, EFOR, 

EFORd, etc because all units report deratings. 



This option includes all units reporting to GADS where events were 

reported during the complete period being examined. If you were 

examining 5 years, the unit would have to report events all 5 years. 

This option will show accurate statistics like EAF, EFOR, EFORd, etc. 

because all units reported deratings. 


Help #8 – Start Fresh or 

Re-examine? 

• When retrieving data, you have the option to start 

fresh each time or re-examine the existing data. 

• It is faster to start with a big group, add a criteria, 

and then re-examine the group as each criteria is 

added. 



Re-examine? 

Always uses this option when starting a new retrieval or 

increasing the population of an existing retrieval. 



Re-examine? 

Use this option if you are “trimming” an existing retrieval. Never 

use it if you suspect that the population of the retrieval will increase. 


Help #9 – Inclusion 

• In pc-GAR, the software assume you want everything 

unless you specify that you only want something 

special. 

• For example, the program will assume you want all 

NERC Regions unless you specify you only want two 

certain Regions. 


Help #10 – Exclusion 

• In pc-GAR, you may have to specify you DON’T WANT 

something in order to get the condition you really 

want. 

• For example, if you wanted units with a single 

reheater in the boiler, you would have to specify that 

the first RH section is 1 to 9999 psig and the second 

RH section is 0 to 0 psig. 


Help #10 – Exclusion 

By placing a “0” (zero) in some criteria, you can focus on special 

cases of design. Here we locate single RH units and remove nonand 

double RH. 


Question & Answer 

On to the demo… 


Examples 


Class Example 100-300 MW 

Oil Unit 

• Example for locating your unit for comparing to 

others 

• AF and EAF distributions 

• Suppose that your unit is between 100-300 MW and 

burns oil as its primary fuel. How would you locate 

other units in GADS and compare yourself to them? 



Oil Unit 

STEP 

1. Double Click on pc-GAR icon 

2. Click on “New Report Wizard” 

3. Input Study Description 

4. Input Author 

5. Click on pull down menu for “Unit Type” 

6. Click on desired Unit Type (fossil-steam) 

7. Click on pull down menu for “Units” 

8. Click on “All Units Including Own” 

9. Click on “Next” 

10. Enter “1993” through “1997” in “Years” window 



Oil Unit 

STEP 

11. Click on “Add a Criteria” Button 

12. Select Window for 1 st Criteria Category 

(Physical, Performance or All) 

13. Enter Select Criteria 

14. Click on “Add a Criteria Button” 

15. Select Window for 2 nd Criteria Category 

16. Enter Select Criteria 

17. Click on “Apply Criteria” 

18. Click on “OK” 

19. Note number of Units Selected 




Oil Unit 

STEP 


22. Click on “Save” (after adding Title 1,2 or comments if desired) 

23. Highlight desired study 

24. Click on “Print Report” 

25. Click on “Unit Statistics Distributions” 

26. Check AF & EAF 

27. Click on “OK” 

28. Check “Print Unit Names on Cover Page” 

29. Check on “Print” 

30. Observe Page 1 of report results 



Oil Unit 

STEP 

31. Click on Page “down” 

32. Observe statistics for mean & median values for AF & Distributions 

33. Write down 10 th , 25 th , 75 th and 90 th percentiles and Mean & Median 

values of AF 

34. Repeat steps 31-33 for EAF 

35. If you have time, try another technology (Hydro, GT, CC, or another type 

fossil steam on your own 




What is pc-GAR MT? 


What is pc-GAR MT? 

• Software product to provide a distribution of times to 

repair (TTR) and times between failures (TBF) 

• Software product to provide Mean TTR and Mean 

TBF for modeling and analysis programs 

• Software product that allows YOU control of the units 

in the data set. 


Events as Reported to GADS 

• Most events are shown as one, continuous activity 

per year 

• However, there are some where the single event is 

divided into parts by: 

• Months for internal utility reporting 

• Years as part of the GADS cut off 


Need for New Software 

• Combine monthly events into one 

• Combine year-ending & year starting events into one 

• Ability to isolate events by event types 

• Ability to isolate events by cause codes or groups of 

cause codes 


The pc-GAR MT Plan 

Year 1 Year 2 

Year 2 

Event 1 Event 1 Event 1 

Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 

Event 1 

Goal: one event, no matter its start or end! 


The Programming 

pc-GAR 

New Data Handling 

Software 

pc-GAR MT 


Why pc-GAR MT? 

• Determine more accurately the times between 

failures for modeling 

• Determine more accurately the repair times for 

shorter down time 

• Manage inspections to equipment to prevent forced 

outages 

• Evaluate operating/maintenance practices 


What’s in common 

between pc-GARs? 

• Same design retrievals 

• Same performance retrievals 

• Same ability to use range or year option 

• Same years of resource 

• Same wizard for selecting units 

• Different output reports 


What’s in common 

between pc-GARs? 

Design data Event/Performance Data Fuel Data 

Retrieval Criteria 

pc-GAR 

pc-GAR MT 


pc-GAR MT Main Screen 

Once the criteria 

is chosen, you 

start the MT 

retrieval with this 

button. 


pc-GAR MT Cause Code Selection 


pc-GAR MT Event Type Selection 


pc-GAR MT Output 

Example of pc-GAR MT output. Lots of information! 


FD or ID Fan Problems 

• Fossil units, 400-499 MW during 1993-1997 

• Problems with more than 1 hour of full forced outage. 

• 24 out of 146 events were less than 1 hour! 



Contact: 

Mike Curley 

Manager of GADS Services 

mike.curley@nerc.net 

801.756.0972 


Versions of pc-GAR 

and pc-GAR MT 

• pc-GAR 

• Annual update normally in the fall of the next year 

• 14 month subscription 

• pc-GAR+Plus 

• Monthly update with all new data passing the GADS edit 

programs 

• 12 months subscription 

• pc-GAR MT 

• Annual update normally in the fall of the next year 

• 14 month subscription 


Versions of pc-GAR 

• Power Generator Version 

• Assess to manufacturer-specific data 

• Assess to own unit data 

• Manufacturer’s Version 

• Assess to own manufacturer equipment and units 

• All competitors are grouped as own manufacturer 

• All others 

• No assess to manufacturer or unit-specific data 

• Rule: 3 utilities and 7 units for any reports

NERC GADS Introduction to pc-GAR and pc-GAR MT - SERC Home ...

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