ElecComm Power Services Blog

Boston firefighters have been battling a smoky, electrical transformer fire in a utility building in Boston's Back Bay, that led to a huge power outage in the downtown area.

Emergency officials said Tuesday night there were no reports of injuries, but one person was taken to a hospital for minor respiratory problems. Fire officials said the smoke wasn't toxic, but people were advised to avoid it.

A local utility spokesman Mike Duran said a problem in one electrical substation spread to a second one. He said the power outage was affecting the Back Bay, Chinatown, the theater district, Kenmore Square and parts of the South End. He said once the damage is assessed the company will begin working to restore power with large generators.

Two hotels and nearby businesses were evacuated. Streets were closed in the area, and subway trains weren't stopping at stations there.

A local utility placed a call to ElecComm Power Services for emergency support.   ElecComm is currently loading in over 30 megawatts of emergency generated power into downtown Boston through miles of cable and many transformers. This is the largest emergency generator powered job in the city’s history . This event is so large a normally busy street that’s clogged with bumper-to-bumper morning traffic “Commonwealth  Avenue” is being used as an EPS equipment staging area. Stay tuned for updates.

There are many businesses and industries out there that need commercial generator rentals on a temporary basis for any number of reasons.
 
However, every business for the most part, needs an emergency power contingency plan. If you don’t have one, contact ElecComm Power Services. We provide New England and New York with emergency and temporary power.

Emergency power services are for those of you who realize that commerce, business must continue even there is no power. Emergency power plans are also for those businesses and industries who provide life saving and health services where power is a must, such as nursing homes, health clinics and hospitals.

To put an emergency power plan in place, contact ElecComm Power today.

At ElecComm, we keep our eyes out for interesting and informative articles that we believe our customers will find beneficial to help their emergency contingency plans.  The article below is from Dr. Jim Kennedy at Continuity Central who does a great job detailing the thought process behind developing such a plan.

According to a recent Forrester Research survey nearly half of the declared disasters reported over a one-year period were due to power failures. To ensure that this type of event does not escalate into a disaster that results in business disruption and lost revenue for your organization you need to be prepared. And this requires a power failure response strategy as part of a wider business continuity plan.

This article explains how to develop such a power failure response strategy.

Determine what you have
The first step in preparing a power failure response strategy is to identify and understand the electrical distribution system layout and design in the facility to be protected. Most building or office electrical power distribution systems are quite complex. In order to properly understand them, wiring documentation will need to be reviewed and brought up to date. If up-to-date documentation is not available when conducting the review, it needs to be developed as soon as possible and prior to developing the power failure response strategy. An electrician or electrical engineer can aid in this effort.

An up-to-date electrical system schematic or wiring diagram will clearly identify how the main components of the electrical system are connected. It should include any special systems, such as uninterruptible power supplies or power protection devices. Specifics regarding equipment voltage and current ratings should be identified and documented. It is also important to identify each major component with a unique name describing its location and important power ratings.

In addition to identifying the equipment on the drawings, it is equally important to physically match the system or component to the drawings by affixing a permanent label to the actual equipment for identification purposes. This, along with a flashlight, facilitates finding the equipment quickly in the case of an emergency.

Determine what your organization’s mission critical requirements are for emergency power
Critical electrical power requirements, or ‘loads’ as they are often called, are usually developed as part of a business impact analysis and risk assessment. However, if these assessments have not been developed as part of an on-going business continuity or disaster recovery program, then now, before a crisis occurs, is a good time to identify the organization’s critical need for electrical power.

Once the electrical power distribution system is documented and understood, the next step is to identify business critical loads that will require emergency power in the event of a power failure. At this point it is important to note that uninterruptible power supplies and emergency generators may not normally provide for all of an organization’s electrical needs. So, decisions will need to be made to determine what equipment in the operation in time of a disaster or incident absolutely need to have power maintained during a power outage.

As I indicated earlier, this is usually done as part of an overall business impact analysis, where business critical systems and devices within the organization are identified. These are systems for which special considerations need to be made in case of any type of failure — of which power failures are only one example.

After critical systems have been identified their sources of power within the facilities need to be identified on the electrical drawings to make sure it is understood that they are critical to the operation (i.e., critical computing systems, LAN/WAN network devices, PBXs, production and/or security equipment). If the electrical distribution system has been properly designed, all business equipment should be connected to common circuits and separated from non-critical equipment. This makes it much easier to isolate mission critical circuits and to properly connect them to emergency power sources during an emergency. It is also important to keep the documentation up-to-date for the equipment contained on these circuits, so that the electrical load (current required to keep the equipment running) is properly identified and emergency power generation equipment can be properly sized.

Determine what type of emergency power your organization should use
Typically if the power failure lasts less than an hour an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) may be able to sustain power – if properly sized and maintained. However, if the power outage lasts in excess of an hour, as has been the case with several US, UK, and European blackouts in the last few years, emergency generators will be needed. If it is absolutely critical to maintain power for an entire operation throughout a blackout, regardless of the length of that blackout, then consideration to possibly installing permanent emergency generators should be made. It should be noted that this type of installation is quite expensive and complex to install, operate and maintain, and may not be viable due to local building codes or environmental constraints. If it is decided that the organization wants to install permanent electrical generation equipment, then an experienced professional’s help should be solicited.

Portable electric generators can also be used. They can be installed after the power has failed and before the UPSs would shut down. If a portable generating unit is to be used, it is absolutely critical that the electrical load of each emergency circuit (measured in amperes) be known so that the generator(s) can be correctly sized (be large enough to supply the rated current of all devices to be powered during the power failure). The wattage and voltage ratings for each generator should be defined prior to the outage and procedures documented, so that when acquiring them, the load does not have to be calculated under adverse conditions: which usually leads to error and further disaster. If it is decided that the use of portable generation is the best alternative, it is prudent to arrange a pre-emergency contract to rent or lease the generators.

If a pre-rental or lease agreement is undertaken, be sure that the contract specifies delivery time and maintenance if a provided system/component fails to operate correctly. It is also important to understand in what priority order you your generators will be delivered especially in case of a widespread emergency outage. However, even with a pre-contracted agreement in place, there is no real guarantee that the generators will be available if the power outage is widespread.

It may be in your organization’s best interest to acquire portable generators ahead of time and store them for a time when they are needed. If you choose this course, it is important to establish and implement proper maintenance procedures (e.g., running the generators periodically and changing the gas and oil as recommended by the manufacturer) to make sure that the generators function when needed.

Making the generators ready for the next outage
Before any power failure occurs is the time to plan how each generator will be connected during an emergency. Here is where an electrical engineer, electrician or experienced technician is critically important. Manual transfer switches can be placed near the emergency panels ahead of time so that switching to emergency power, once the generators are connected and started, is made easier.

All of the necessary connection equipment (e.g., cables and connectors, etc.) should be stored near the place where the generators will be used. In addition, fuel and operational supplies need to be planned for as generators will consume large supplies of gasoline and oil if they need to run for many hours. Emergency generator procedures need to be well documented beforehand and attached to the generator or the transfer switch. This ensures that the generators will be connected properly and will not damage any wiring or critical equipment.

If the connection is very complex then part of the emergency response procedures should include an on-staff or contracted electrician or experienced technician to perform the connection of the generators.

Ensure the generators are functional when needed
To ensure that the emergency generation equipment (permanent or portable) is ready in case of an emergency, regular testing is essential. Testing procedures should be established (and internal audits conducted to regularly review compliance) to ensure that the generators will work properly when called upon for service.

The generators should be tested under actual circumstances and full load, if possible, but, if not, then a simple functional test will have to suffice. This functional test should include starting and running each generator for a minimum of thirty minutes at least every month or minimally, once each quarter. Also make sure that each generator’s fuel tank is full upon completion of each test and that there are documented procedures to obtain fuel during an emergency (perhaps the local gas station may not be the best source). Manufacturers of generating equipment typically recommend that fuel be replaced that is more than one year old.

Formal process and procedures are critical to success
Experiences of business continuity and disaster recovery professionals have shown that proper planning in advance of any incident makes response to that incident much more effective and electrical power failures are no exception. The group responsible for reacting during a blackout should make sure that well documented and easily understood procedures are developed and maintained.

During a crisis, people react differently than when there is no stress, so the procedures should be clearly written. One method to make the procedures easier to follow would be to use step-by-step check lists or flow-charts. Having these procedures available at each generator site to connect each portable generator will save a great deal of time during an actual crisis event. It is also important to note that the procedures should include both how to connect the generator and how to disconnect the generator when power has been restored.

Running generator installation tests periodically can help make sure everyone is comfortable and prepared for the time when the drill may be replaced by a real power outage situation.

Source:   Continuity Central (Dr. Jim Kennedy)

Hurricane Irene is fast approaching New England, New Jersey and New York. In the event of power failures, disaster relief agencies will be in need of emergency backup power equipment. Nothing is more damaging to hospitals and commerce than sudden power outages.

ElecComm Power can assist with commercial disaster relief. With establish relationships with NSTAR and Newington Power Company as their supplier for backup emergency power, you can feel comfortable in our services. We are also reaching out to the Red Cross, FEMA, Hospitals, Power Companies, and shelters to let them know that we can supply portable commercial generators and power equipment in areas of power loss.

Hopefully Hurricane Irene will take it easy on us in the North East. However, in the event that hospitals, power companies and businesses are met with sudden power loss, keep in mind ElecComm Power.