Power Protection and UPS Blog

As if proof were needed that the world is on the brink of an energy crisis, look no further than South Africa! The country is rich in gems and precious metals and some of the world’s largest gold and platinum mining companies. This week they suspended production due to a ‘national emergency’ and spate of recent power cuts, which have ground business to a halt in many areas. 

Two things come to mind: firstly, thank goodness this is 2008 and not a bygone era! Mining company owners and bosses back then would have cared less about health & safety and minors being trapped underground by a power cut than they obviously do now! Drastic though it may seem, they took the right course of action shutting everything down. Secondly, if these companies are some of the world’s largest (and one would assume, richest) in their field, why do they not join forces and lobby the Government for more action on energy issues; including infrastructure construction and maintenance? Surely, above all these days, this is the one element that is an obstacle to a country’s economic growth. 

I love this quote from Goolam Ballim, chief economist of Standard Bank Group, based in South Africa: 

“Power is like Oxygen, it’s essential for any half-modern economy.” 

Absolutely! And protecting its source should be foremost in every business owner’s mind. 

For more information on power protection, visit: Riello UPS

It’s interesting that people assume the electricity that comes out of the mains power supply is as pure as distilled water. It isn’t. It is contaminated by all sorts of ‘nasties’ that can lead to sags, surges, brownouts, harmonics, flicker, frequency deviations, interference, interruptions, distortion as well as complete blackouts. In turn, these problems can have dire consequences. Firstly, they will shorten the life of equipment by causing wear-and-tear and they can also cause complete breakdown.  

With computer systems, these problems are magnified as equipment tends to be sensitive to fluctuations in voltage current. They can result in data corruption or loss, which for many companies may be devastating in terms of business continuity, reputation and customer service. In extreme cases, harmonics for example, has been known to cause fires.  

What can be done?  

UPS is the answer. Not only does it protect equipment from complete mains power failures, it also contains filters and conditioners that keep the voltage current to within an acceptable level and cushion against many of these problems. This can be helped with a little insight and research into which power problems are most prevalent at your site, their magnitude and frequency. This information will enable you to choose the right solution for you. Large sites may benefit from power monitoring, a service offered by specialist (like Riello UPS) to record disturbances over a specific time period.  

For more information about power problems visit Riello’s website.

Increasingly more of the UK’s electricity is being generated from natural gas. Okay, so it would seem we can all breath again now that agreement for gas supplies to Ukraine in 2008 has been signed. Most of Russia’s gas exports to the European Union (EU) are piped through Ukraine so it is important that there is agreement between the two nations. Russian gas currently accounts for one quarter of the EU’s supplies but that could rise in view of the fact that the UK, for example, is expecting to import gas to meet up to 80% of demand by 2020. The agreement on both price and terms of gas supplies to Ukraine will ensure a more stable supply of Russian gas to European consumers. The Department for Business (BERR) wants to allow private firms into gas supply projects to ‘help maintain reliable supplies’ and I think this is a good idea; the less politically motivated suppliers are the more we as consumers are able to extend our influence and thus secure supplies. As I see it, the problem with importing gas is that we have little control over security of supply. If the infrastructure is allowed to break down or an international dispute results in the supply being cut off (as happened in January 2006 to Ukraine), we are powerless to react. We can’t change international politics but we can advise on secure power protection, which is becoming ever more critical in these uncertain times in which we live.

We are not the only country suffering severe problems. Earlier this week Barcelona entered a state of emergency as they lost mains power for 2 days due to a substation cable fault. The failure started a chain reaction which lead to a further 6 substations failing and left hospitals and other such institutions reliant on emergency standby power generators and battery back-up systems.

The consequences of a mains power failure can at times be quite staggering. I am convinced that such incidents follow chaos theory.

Take Southern Water, who were recently prosecuted by the Environment Agency for allowing sewage to escape into the River Alver. The cause - you guessed it - a mains power failure at their Peel Water Treatment Works in Fareham.

Riello UPS has worked with a number of water companies to help overcome such problems. Some of the installations have to be specially engineered to cope with an environment that can at times be damp and on occasions even flood.

The simple act of turning off a power cable over a river to allow a cruise ship to pass caused an unprecedented power cut across Europe on Saturday. The power cut started in Cologne and quickly spread to Belgium, The Netherlands, Austria, Croatia and even Morocco. The incident has led to a call for a full investigation by the European Commission and demands for a central European power authority. For more information click here.

A faulty underground cable has been blamed for the recent power cuts that hit Bermondsey to Kensington recently. The fault disrupted power to thousands of homes and businesses within south east London. The fault occured at 3:15pm and by 8:00pm that night most people were back on-line. The incident yet again shows the impact that a sudden fault can have on an area.

Where is the resilience ? Jason Yates and I have been discussing resilience recently and how far this should be pushed through out an installation. A recent PDU failure caused by a burnt out cable at London internet hub provider Telehouse, shows just how important resilience can be. A resilient electrical power design ensures that the critical load remains powered at all times and cannot be brought down by a single point of failure as it appears happened here. As Andrew Charlesworth at vnunet.com commented: “So, presumably, right now there is an electrician looking at the burned out cable, sucking in air over his teeth and muttering - what cowboy put that in, then?” - for more information click here.

Last week, power cuts in Maidstone disrupted a datacentre operated by CSC Alliance. This lead to a computer system failure affecting over 80 NHS hospital trusts. Such incidents highlight the need for power protection as reported by IT Week.

Viatel, a business communications service provider just released the results of a new survey of 100 top IT directors. The results show that whilst 80% have a business continuity plan, 62% do not cover their phone systems. During a power failure they are totally reliant on the mobile phones they provide to their employees. The report also found that a third of the survey respondents still suffered a week after, with some still not able to access their data systems. Michael Davies of Vitael commented: “Having a comprehensive business continuity plan in place is no longer an option but a necessity.” How true.

The recent heat wave has highlighted just how little spare electrical capacity we have within the UK. Sudden failures in London, for example, left electricity companies asking users to reduce their power demands and turn off air conditioners. With another heat wave forecast for later this month we can only expect further power problems and failures. For more information on the London power cuts see the Telegraph.co.uk article