Flexible Service Solutions: ServiceGridSM

ABB offers a complete portfolio of flexible service solutions that meet the diverse requirements of customers, their plants and the market conditions in which they operate.

Flexibility is key in today’s power generation industry, where the effects of global economic slowdown, the uncertainty surrounding the future of nuclear power generation and the escalating growth of renewables are transforming many electricity markets. In developed economies, power generators are extending the operating life of their plants longer than originally planned. Many of these plants were designed to operate constantly at full load; now their output has to be frequently adapted in response to the fluctuating production of wind and solar power.

As a result of these and other factors, power generation companies are under constant pressure to adapt to changing market conditions. They have to be flexible and their power plants have to operate with flexibility as well.

ABB recognizes the need for flexibility and structured our flexible service offerings to meet the different needs of individual customers and plants, which consists of flexible plant evolution service packages, with which we service and evolve the plant’s electrical and automation assets as the customer’s needs and budget dictates. One example of this package is ServiceGrid.

ServiceGrid^SM

ServiceGrid^SM is a comprehensive program of service products that enables customers to choose the number of products and level of support that best meets their requirements. These range from basic services like spare parts and repairs to advanced products like power plant tuning and software evolution.

Launched in North America in mid-2011, this comprehensive portfolio of ABB service products and expertise has quickly become a huge success. Recent metrics show that it has boosted the already high levels of customer satisfaction that ABB is scoring in service. More significantly, almost 100 percent of customers who signed ServiceGrid^SM contracts in the opening 18 months have opted to renew them.

Big benefits

ServiceGrid^SM brings vast offering of critical plant technologies under a single service contract and with a single ABB point of contact. ServiceGrid^SM is geared to deliver five principal benefits:

– Maximize plant performance and efficiency
– Minimize the risk of unplanned and unexpected outages
– Extend the life cycle of ABB products and systems
– Complement the plant’s existing technical and service resources
– Protect the customer’s financial and intellectual investments in ABB technologies

It delivers these benefits through a comprehensive choice of four different levels of participation Core, Select, ProActive, and Enterprise.

– Core: provides customers with a series of core service products for plants that are self-maintaining, have limited budgets or limited running time, but that still require services that only an OEM can deliver. These service products range from software updates and DCS on-site support to repairs and spare parts.
– Select: builds on the Core foundation and increases the extent of ABB’s support. It provides a range of services for customers who want to continue to work on their own but who also want the peace of mind provided by a global OEM. In addition to Core, it includes aspects like software upgrades and annual life cycle reports.
– ProActive and Enterprise: premium programs for customers who recognize the benefits of a service partnership with a global OEM. Both levels include all the products available in Core and Select, with the addition of high-value services like a designated technical account manager (TAM), application/process support, and quarterly reports and reviews. ProActive is for customers who wish to partner ABB on a single plant; Enterprise for companies with multiple sites who want to reap the benefits of ServiceGrid^SM across their entire fleet.

To learn more about ABB’s ServiceGrid, contact your local ABB power generation office or go to www.abb.com/powergeneration.