Long-Term CIP Project Selection and Optimization for Vertical Assets

It is important for utilities to prioritize the CIP planning budgets and identify when the best time is to schedule large replacement and rehabilitation for distributed facilities on water or wastewater networks, such as pump or lift stations. This optimized CIP planning is important for short term (5 years) as well as long term to capture the life cycles of the components in pump and lift stations. At the component level, the remaining useful life assessment was conducted with utilizing the industry averages and adjusted with utility institutional knowledge and condition assessments. Critical assets which would drive the project packaging are then identified to come up with the optimized replacement schedules to bundle components into a major overhaul project at the facility level. Genetic algorithms were used to help measure the deferred replacement schedules and the cumulative risks assumed through the deferred replacements. This project investigated finding the optimal timing for replacement and rehabilitation projects at component, facility, and network level for vertical assets. Beyond the facility level optimization, the network level optimizations (facility x versus facility y) were conducted considering the consequence of failure and the resilience factors of the facilities.