| Operation & maintenance
The operators of Lake Mainit hydropower plant are using the Hydro Pocket system by Voith. Photo by Voith Hydro
energy market, the two companies were put into in a challenging position and the short-lived partnership was dissolved.
Nonetheless this collaboration offered several learnings and knowledge exchange opportunities, highlighting notable differences between the two organisations’ sourcing models. Indeed, whereas NordKraft relied primarily on outsourced contractors, the other company maintained a hybrid model with mainly inhouse teams. This got NordKraft thinking, leading it to initiate a strategic project to evaluate its own approach to O&M. The company wanted to develop a comprehensive O&M strategy to define future maintenance operations and provide the foundation for decision-making regarding operating models, improvement initiatives, and sourcing models. The strategy would guide the company in aligning its maintenance practices with long-term performance goals.
Insourced maintenance As Stenelo and Hedlund explain, to support this work,
the organisation established an internal project team to analyse the current and future state of maintenance operations. The team conducted interviews and workshops with maintenance personnel, managers, and other key stakeholders throughout the organisation. These discussions helped identify operational challenges, organisational needs, and opportunities for improvement. The team also performed a market analysis to understand external trends and practices. By combining insights from internal engagement and external analysis, the project team formulated a vision for the future. The outcome of the project was a strategic document that serves as the foundation of the O&M strategy and is intended to guide future decisions on maintenance operations.
Based on the analysis and stakeholder input, it was concluded that an insourced maintenance model would better support the company’s strategic objectives. As a result, a large number of maintenance employees from external partners were brought in-house and fully integrated into the hydro generation business unit during July 2023.
Not only a response to emerging needs, development of the O&M strategy was also a key driver behind the insourcing decision. It was based on a structured assessment of the organisation’s current state, long- term goals, and future requirements for maintenance operations.
As such, the strategy provided a clear foundation for shaping the new operating model and guiding the broader organisational transition. To support long-term implementation of the O&M
strategy, Stenelo and Hedlund recommend: ● Strengthening performance dialogues. ● Enabling strategic reflection. ● Clarifying leadership expectations. ● Improving cross-divisional coordination The purpose of their study was to examine how the O&M strategy has been translated into practice, and how its core values have been internalised across the maintenance organisation, supporting the company’s transition toward value-driven maintenance and strengthening internal capabilities.
References
Trend Analysis of Repair and Maintenance Capacity in Context of Nepalese Hydropower Sachin G. Tandukar, Pasang Ghising Tamang, Prithivi Gurung, Sailesh Chitrakar,Ram Lama and Bhola Thapa. Current Research in Hydropower Technologies IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science1533 (2025) 012019 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755- 1315/1533/1/012019
Effects of operation and maintenance costs on the financial sustainability of micro hydropower schemes Joelson Alexandre, Lilies Kathumbi, Gina Javanbakht, John M. Allport. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 83 (2025) 104651 https://doi. org/10.1016/
j.seta.2025.104651
Bringing an Operational Strategy into Practice A Case Study on Strategy Implementation in a Maintenance Organization in the Hydropower Sector. Master’s thesis in Quality and Operations Management Marie Stenelo Lisa Hedlund. Chalmers University Of Technology Gothenburg, Sweden 2025
www.chalmers.se
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