Is your commercial facility or business prepared with backup generators for an emergency situation? How would your company fare when a major storm strikes? What would happen if your city had a public safety power shutoff cutting power across the region?
If your commercial building is similar to other buildings in the country, you will find it hard to manage a sustained power failure, especially without a backup power plan and system in place.
Most commercial buildings don’t have planned backup power which is essential to run a facility when a power failure strikes. For instance, consider the Northeast Blackout that occurred in 2003. At the time, 58 hospitals in New York City had backup generators and UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) systems in place. Theoretically, that sounds great. However, even though those hospitals had systems in place, around half of them had failures. Failures in backup generators in cases such as these can sometimes cost lives.
So, why did this transpire? Even though there were generators in place, the actual failures
occurred either due to improper (or lack of) maintenance, improper load ratios, transfer
switch failures, or even something as simple as failed start-up batteries. In addition to these
stated issues, there was also the absence of the right type or sizing of commercial generators
and a lack of knowledge as to how the generators would act in the event of a disaster.
This is why it is critical for businesses to utilize reputable companies with trained technicians and engineers
when looking for emergency power solutions. Odyssey Power is one such company that specializes in right-sizing, installation, testing, training, and maintenance of UPS systems.
Why Backup Power Generator Systems Matter
The more unstable a regional grid, the more crucial it becomes for facility managers and business owners to have their own generators. The number of power outages in 2009 was 2,840. That number climbed up to 3,526 in 2017. 13 million people in New York City affected by that power outage in 2009. With population expansion increasing exponentially by 2017, the situation became much worse leaving over 37 million people reeling from the second round of serious outages. The growing demands of power grids have made businesses more vulnerable to potential outages.
Even if all the grids are handling the everyday load, natural disasters or major electrical storms can force them to go out of service at any time, drowning your business in darkness at the same time. Think of the Public Safety Power Shutoffs from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) – this allows the utility companies to shut off your power for something as simple as high winds, low humidity, or high temperatures to limit the risk of fire from dated infrastructure failure. The risk of outage, especially in the Summer and Fall seasons, is higher than it has been in decades here in California.
However, when there is a generator to keep electricity following, it allows your business to proceed as usual until utility is restored. The automatic transfer switch sends emergency power to the circuits you have marked as critical, providing a constant source of power for as long as the generator keeps running with fuel.
Why Is Emergency Power for Business Necessary?
You need to invest in emergency power for business for the following reasons.
1. Prevention of Considerable Loss of Data
If your organization is data-intensive or stores private customer data that is accessed regularly, it’s necessary to maintain a constant power supply. Your critical infrastructure must remain online. As soon as the power goes out, emergency generators switch on in less than ten seconds. Add in a UPS system, and that transfer to the emergency power source has no interruption.
In delicate research and experiments, downtime can be too costly and can pose an extensive risk to the years of time spent on research. In this way, a company loses millions of dollars or months of time. The best strategy for a data or research business is to invest in commercial generators with a UPS in place to completely prevent disruptions.
2. Consistent Power for Business Productivity
All companies strive for improved and consistent productivity. A power outage can bring all the operations of a company to a halt. Interruptions in business operations can inflict major damage to company revenue. To avoid unplanned downtime, emergency generators are your best bet to maintain workflow with minimal interruption and stay on track. If a short-term, minor power outage takes place, a generator enables your organization to resume its normal operations until utility power comes back.
3. Cost Savings
Your commercial building’s power is required for a majority of business assets, including A/C units, security systems, equipment, electrical appliances, computers, and other items. Not only do power interruptions cause downtime, but the initial power failure can trigger malfunctions in electronics. Sensitive equipment can even fail, forcing replacement in the event of an unexpected power outage which can get costly or result in additional downtime.
Sometimes, it’s not feasible to backup the complete office building as doing so is too costly or the power load is too high which decreases the overall run time for the generator. In addition, the added expenses connected to other types of backup power (UPS/Battery back-up systems) may be greater than those that are linked with a backup generator. It is best to go over which systems are most critical to determine how much back-up power is needed. A load study can also be performed to insure the back-up power equipment is sized appropriately.
Specific Applications
Generators do more than allow you to keep your business open, they can also help avoid irreversible losses in certain cases. Here are some of the industries that could benefit from back-up generators.
- Datacenters – Datacenters need constant, uninterrupted power to run their equipment. Some even offer cloud-based data services or are hosted colocations. If they stop working or are even interrupted for a few minutes, it can put clients at risk as the resulted downtime can be extremely costly.
- Medical facilities – Medical facilities and hospitals use generators to protect the health and lives of their patients. A large number of patients undergo surgery in an operating room full of sensitive equipment or rely on life-support monitors. Generators are necessary to maintain a constant source of power. They are also subject to additional regulation to ensure these backup power systems are rigorously maintained since they support life safety.
- Transportation and hospitality providers – Event centers, hotels, and restaurants cannot incur food spoilage, climate-control failures, and booking confusion triggered by power outages. Continuous power is also mandatory for airports to maintain critical air traffic control operations.
Final Thoughts on Generators
Suppose you are looking for ways to reduce high costs, prevent interruptions, and tackle the general security and safety challenges that are caused by a power outage. If so, it’s time to invest in emergency power for business. Rather than installing a diesel or natural gas generator, you should invest in a comprehensive power solution. At Odyssey Power, we assist our clients in implementing power solutions that are reliable and efficient. As the only third party service provider in California with both UPS and Generator technicians, we are uniquely suited to assist you in finding the right critical power solutions for your business. Contact us today for more information.