Under AMP8, water companies face increased pressure to demonstrate asset resilience, energy efficiency, and risk-based investment decisions. One of the most effective tools to support this is a structured ABB drive life-cycle assessment.
ABB defines clear life-cycle phases for its drives: Active, Classic, Limited, and Obsolete. Many water assets installed during earlier AMP periods are now operating with drives that are approaching or already within the Limited phase, where spares availability, technical support, and repair options begin to reduce.
Common examples seen across pumping stations and treatment works include:
- ABB ACQ600 series drives
- Early ACQ800 variants
- Legacy low-voltage drives installed 15–25 years ago
A life-cycle assessment identifies:
- Current drive phase and support status
- Risk exposure if a failure occurs
- Availability of replacement parts
- Opportunities for retrofit or staged upgrade
- Potential energy and control improvements
For AMP8, this insight allows operators to move away from reactive replacements and instead plan targeted upgrades, life-extension strategies, or redundancy improvements. The result is reduced unplanned downtime, improved cost certainty, and stronger compliance with regulatory performance commitments.
For help and advice with life-cycle management, please contact our team by emailing sales@apds.co.uk or calling us on 0117 982 2049.
