Extreme Weather Shows Need For Power Protection

Ofgem's recent letter to all UK energy providers further demonstrated the seriousness of the situation – threatening to impose fines for those who do not dramatically improve the reliability and long-term sustainability of their services. Rachel Fletcher, Ofgem's distribution partner explains: We want to raise our concern that the approach being adopted by some distribution network operators to assess their compliance may be exposing customers to unacceptable levels of risk regarding security of supply.

Last month also saw The National Grid issue a gas-balancing alert, indicating that some business users may face a reduction in supplies. The alert, posted on the company's web site, was the second within a week, as freezing temperatures gripped the UK last December, causing gas consumption to reach almost record levels. This and other recent examples of the fragility of the National Grid demonstrates the potential problems facing UK businesses, as Elms discusses: It is clear that businesses must take their own precautions when it comes to safeguarding their critical applications. The alternative is being exposed to potentially unreliable and fluctuating supply as well as potential blackouts, brownouts and disconnection rotas.

Furthermore, our own research also reflects these statements – with over 75 percent of those questioned in a recent UPSL survey claiming that power protection equipment was required to support their critical applications due to a power outage within the past 12 months.
The UK is consuming more energy than ever before, with an 11 percent increase between 1990 and 2001. So, as consumption continues to rise and the future quality of supply remains uncertain, UPS systems and standby generators have become fundamental elements of an organisation's business continuity strategy.

No-one can deny the need for UPS and standby generators is already well understood by most leading organisations, especially those which rely on their critical applications to function. However, as UPS equipment has become the accepted norm, many organisations have not managed their power protection in-line with the growth of the load, resulting in a system unable to cope in an emergency and all the more vulnerable to mains failures.

In addition, with future power reliability still uncertain, generators and longer term standby power systems have also grown in popularity. Offering a 'no-break' solution to power protection: Generators enable firms to keep critical applications running around the clock, regardless of the duration of the outage. Concluded Elms.