Assessing the financial feasibility of utility-provided backup power during project site planning

The events leading to the sudden and catastrophic failure of the North American power grid during August 2003 coupled with a record hurricane season a year later have civil engineers rethinking cost-effective backup power solutions for their clients. Electric deregulation across many areas of the United States has utilities looking for new value-added products and services to protect and acquire market shares. As a result, a new partnership has emerged between site planners and utilities to provide affordable backup power to the customer. Case studies are provided for a 1.0 MW backup power project for a 367-bed hospital and a 1.25 MW parallel power project for an insurance call center located in Gainesville, Fla. Results for each show competitive pricing for the client and attractive returns for the utility.