Northeast America blackout anniversary offers reminder of importance of emergency backup power

The Diesel Technology Forum provides a power protection checklist.

One year ago this week, on August 14th, 2003, the north-eastern United States and parts of Canada suddenly went dark due to failures in the electric power grid that lasted nearly 48 hours in some areas, resulting in severe inconveniences for millions and business losses estimated in the billions.

"Reliable electric power - even in times of grid failure - is now considered mission critical to business operations, so that even a brief disruption in power can mean millions," said Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum. According to a study by Contingency Planning Research in Teleconnect Magazine, the brokerage industry, for example, loses $6.4 million per hour when power outages interrupt operations. Additionally, according to data reported in The Wall Street Journal (July 23rd), one minute of downtime for the VISA USA network represents $1.92 million in lost transactions. Across all business sectors, it is estimated that the US economy loses between $104 billion and $164 billion a year due to utility power outages, as reported in a study by the Consortium for Electric Infrastructure to Support a Digital Society (CEIDS).

Businesses can mitigate the economic risk of power outages by ensuring power reliability is a part of their business continuity plan. The Diesel Technology Forum says that a key component of this is the installation of diesel-powered emergency backup generators. Diesel standby generators start automatically within 10 seconds of a power outage, helping protect critical data, security and communications systems. "No other power source offers the combination of quick start-up time, reliability and load carrying capacity of diesel-powered generators," commented Schaeffer.

To help businesses protect critical facilities during a power outage, the Diesel Technology Forum has prepared the following checklist:

* Assess the risk
Identifying your facility's critical loads is an important first step. Assign a cost to the risks associated with utility power interruptions, production losses and downtime.

* Install a standby generator
Frequent outages of a few seconds, a few minutes or more can often disrupt production lines and have significant cost implications to businesses. While other fuel sources can take up to two minutes to engage, diesel-powered standby generators provide power quickly and continuously during a power outage. And, the combination of greater fuel efficiency and lower fuel costs for diesel generators means that they offer the most cost-effective source of reliable backup power available.

* Have sufficient fuel storage
For extended outages, running out of generator fuel before the outage is over may mean you're out of luck. The chemical structure of diesel fuel allows more energy to be released per unit that any other source of commonly used power. This greater power density means less fuel consumption than other sources. Still, it is important to make sure that you have sufficient fuel storage capacity on-site for an extended outage of several days. Additionally, diesel fuel degrades over time, so be sure to use and replenish the supply on an annual basis.

* Maintain your equipment and exercise the standby generator monthly
As required by electrical codes, standby generators should be "exercised" monthly to insure they will operate as designed in the event of an emergency. Be sure to operate the generator under load to make sure the entire system works, and keep up with recommended maintenance procedures.

* Contract rental power
If installing your own standby generation is not feasible for your business, you might consider contracting with a firm to reserve rental generator power for use in the event of an extended outage. In the case of disaster, it may be too late to secure rental power after the fact.

http://www.dieselforum.org

•Date: 11th August 2004 • Region: N.America/World •Type: Article •Topic: Power man.
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