Backup Power’s Role in Disaster Recovery

Power outages due to weather related disasters such as snowstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes are becoming increasingly common in the United States. Now more than ever, many businesses and organizations rely on electricity to run their critical and day-to-day operations. Not only that, but highly important facilities such as hospitals, data centers, public utilities, communications, financial institutions, and emergency responders require continuous power to protect public health and safety.

Power Outages and Disaster Recovery:

• Diesel Technology Forum states that 75 percent of U.S. small business owners rate a power outage as a top threat to their business.
• The report, Economic Benefits of Increasing Electric Grid Resilience to Weather Outages, estimated 679 widespread power outages occurred between 2003 and 2012 due to severe weather, which have cost the economy billions of dollars.

Visit PSEG’s Outage Map to see the current power outages throughout the United States.

Backup Power’s Role:

Electricity, being our most valuable resource, is often the most scarce after a natural disaster. Power is needed to run hospitals, grocery stores, emergency centers, command centers, emergency shelters, communications networks, and many more resources that are often deployed to assist citizens during these trying times. However, when a storm knocks out power, how do we maintain these resources?

Stationary and portable generators are used for this purpose. These generators automatically take over when commercial power goes out. Diesel generators provide the most reliable form of backup power due to the availability of fuel, power density, response time, and dependability. Propane powered generators come in a close second, because of their fuel capacity and fuel shelf life. Fuel cells, while still new, are slowly becoming another valuable resource for backup power during emergencies.

Other options such as battery backup or natural gas generators do not offer a reliable source of backup power because the batteries only last a certain amount of time and for natural gas, the fuel supply is not guaranteed. In the event of an earthquake or similar disaster, a natural gas supply can be interrupted or shut down with the only solution being the deployment of a portable diesel generator.

During commercial power outages, diesel and propane backup power is a major necessity, especially for first responders, hospitals, and public safety officials. In critical situations such as operating rooms or E911 centers, every second counts. Generators are the silent, yet reliable partner that enables the seamless continuation of these tasks, being that no other energy source provides backup power within seconds of primary grid failure.

Without a backup power solution, businesses risk lost revenue, profitability, clients, and customers. It is especially important to ensure that your business has reliable backup power systems such as generators in order to maintain critical business operations during natural disasters and other emergencies.

Cat5 Resources Can Help:

Cat5 Resources can provide the backup power solutions such as generator maintenance, repairs, and emergency fueling services necessary to support the critical infrastructure of your business while you focus on your daily operations. We have the skills and experience required to deploy and operate emergency generators in any situation and natural disasters are no exception. In fact, responding to them is our specialty. If you’d like to know more, contact us.