British Standards Institute Standard PAS-55 "Asset Management" defines asset management as "simply the optimum way of managing assets to achieve a desired and sustainable outcome". A more specific definition for electric utility operations and maintenance might be "the process of balancing maximizing profit (return on stakeholder investment) and achieving organization goals over the life of the asset". This definition drives improved performance (by maximizing returns and also creating an incentive for new investment), meeting non-financial goals (such as improving customer service, which may not be purely profit driven), and at least attempts to avoid maximizing short term gains at the expense of long term gains. This definition fits the developed world well. First world organizations can apply a series of techniques - such as project prioritization and risk-based design, operations, and maintenance - for organizing the business to meet company goals and shareholder expectations.In the developing world, the techniques remain the same, but the goals for a third world utility will be significantly different. In the developing world, the utility must take into account development goals, such as building a system capable of future expansion (connecting more customers who now have no service and adding redundancy to the system to improve performance), and must plan for technological advances, which may involve both standardization and diversity, depending on the area. Third world countries must avoid "re-inventing the wheel", but instead can attempt to leapfrog technologically over present electric system configurations and equipment.Consideration of "return on investment" (ROI) also is different for third world utilities. For instance, in developing nations ROI will often be, and probably often should be, less than for developed world utilities. A much larger portion of the ROI will need to be recycled into the system for expansion of service and redundancy. Also, ROI can vary much more dramatically from year to year in the third world, based on the local and world economy. This may drive a different corporate/government structure. It may also drive different considerations in foreign investment - many off-shore investors are more interested in short term profits than in long term growth.This paper addresses these questions in the context of applying asset management - as defined by PAS-55 - to transmission and distribution equipment for third world utilities.
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