Gas Plant Critical Spare Parts

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) defines critical spares as components or parts needed to (1) prevent loss of generation or transmission, (2) prevent unsafe operating conditions, and/or (3) return critical components to service. TVA identified 45,934 critical components for its 18 natural gas plants. Due to the importance of critical spare parts being available to reduce safety and generation impacts when equipment fails, we conducted an evaluation to determine if TVA adequately identified, stocked, and maintained critical spare parts for gas plants.We found most gas plant critical components have not been evaluated to identify critical spare parts. In January 2023, TVA’s dashboard for tracking progress towards identifying critical spare parts indicated only 291 of 45,934 critical components in the gas fleet had been reviewed. We identified the following contributing factors: (1) limited resources dedicated to reviewing existing components to identify critical spare parts, (2) Power Operations not having governing procedures defining the process for identifying critical spare parts, and (3) incomplete inventory data in TVA’s system of record for inventory, asset, and location information. We also found not all identified critical spare parts were in stock or set to reorder once used. Additionally, we found (1) some improvements were needed to properly store and maintain critical spare parts, and (2) improvements are needed to maintain the useful life of certain items such as those with electronic components or requiring preventive maintenance while in storage. This report, specifically identifies the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) a non-governmental organization/business entity. Pursuant to the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, Pub. L. No. 117-263, § 5274, any such organization may submit a written response to the report within 30 days, clarifying or providing additional context for each instance within the report in which the organization is specifically identified. Any response provided for that purpose will be appended to the final, published report. If you have any questions about this process, please contact Jeffrey McKenzie at 865-633-7374 or jtmckenzie@tvaoig.gov within 30 days of publication.