The electricity industry is undergoing fundamental change in moving from a regulated monopoly to a competitive industry. Low load growth, over-capacity and uncertainty about the future shape of the industry are creating pressures on the availability of capital and the reduction of operating costs.

Now more than ever, there is a need to optimize the use of existing station plant assets and to develop new, lower cost, more efficient and reliable equipment applications. This new reality is complicated by the fact that a significant amount of station equipment in use today has already accumulated between 20 to 40 years of service. Maintenance costs will rise as the inherent reliability of aging plants starts an inevitable decline.

The objective of this Interest Group is to bring together interested parties to facilitate research that will optimize the life cycle management of substation equipment and apparatus and reduce costs through collaboration of methods, procedures, and practices.