Application of a novel cost reduction index to preventive maintenance scheduling

•A new structure for preventive maintenance scheduling based upon MILP is introduced.•A novel index namely CRI to specify the more optimum maintenance scheme is suggested.•Performing a pre-generation scheduling before maintenance schedule to obtain CRI.•Defining multifarious scenarios to investigate the CRI impact on maintenance scheduling.•Total cost is decreased in all scenarios due to more proper maintenance schedule.

Preventive maintenance scheduling of generating units is addressed as a crucial issue that affects on both economy and reliability of power system. In this paper, a new formulation of preventive maintenance scheduling associated with a novel cost reduction index (CRI) is developed. Mainly, the objective of the cost-based preventive maintenance scheduling consists of the operation as well as maintenance cost over a specified time horizon. A cost reduction index is introduced in such a way to minimize the operation cost while determining the most appropriate maintenance scheme. Here, the proposed framework is structured as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) and solved using CPLEX solver. Several analyzes are conducted to investigate the impacts of CRI on maintenance scheme as well as system expenditures. The IEEE reliability test system (RTS) is utilized to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed structure and simulation results are promising.