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UtILItY WEEK | 14th - 20th March 2014 | 23 Operations & Assets Westermost Rough will have a generating capacity of 210MW – enough electricity to power 210,000 homes – and is one of two offshore windfarms that Dong Energy is cur- rently constructing in the UK, along with West of Duddon Sands. Together, they represent more than 500MW of green electricity, which will be added to the UK's grid in 2015 and 2014, respectively. If you have an asset or project you would like to see featured in this slot, email: paul.newton@fav-house.com Pipe up Paul Barnfather F or a long time, the discipline of asset management has been the preserve of corporations with large numbers of physical assets. It's been dominated by engineers, and hasn't always been a key issue for other sectors. As of last month, however, that is all about to change. Between March 2011 and February 2014, I was among the committee members from 31 different nations that took on the task of writing ISO 55000, the first international standard for asset management. Our hope is that what has benefited utility companies for years will now be of benefit to all industries across the world. Those in the industry will be familiar with PAS 55, which aer its launch in 2004 set the bar for asset man- agement standardisation. Despite being developed by the UK Institute of Asset Management and the British Stand- ards Institution, it had input from ten countries and was adopted widely around the world, being translated into five different languages. Given PAS 55's success and widespread adoption, the appe- tite for an international stand- ard was clear. Committees were set up across the globe for 'Pro- ject Committee 251' – the project to develop the ISO 55000 series for Asset Management. I was a member of the UK committee, where I acted as representative of the Association of Consulting Engineers. There has already been a lot written about the differ- ences between PAS 55 and the ISO 55000 series, but the most significant for me is that asset management has itself been fundamentally redefined. Rather than refer- ring specifically to large physical assets, the new stand- ard defines assets as anything that has potential value. This redefinition significantly expands the scope of asset management. Assets are anything that a company expects to derive value from, and asset management is the discipline of making these assets work for you. These assets could include anything from a desktop PC to maintenance equipment, from databases to transmis- sion towers – and so on. If an asset fails (and it's still needed), then it needs to be repaired or replaced, so it is in a business's interests to reduce these costs and manage assets effectively. ISO 55000 gives businesses a framework and guiding principles for an effective asset management process. The details are le up to that business, and plenty of room has been le for innovation and development of best practice. Ultimately, widespread adoption of ISO 55000 will lead to a more competitive and efficient economy. Paul Barnfather, technical director, EA Technology "ISO 55000 gives businesses a framework and guiding principles for an effective asset management process" The new standard redefines assets as anything that has potential value