With the recent warning from European authorities about the potential for extended power outages, especially after the 24-hour blackout in Spain, it's worth considering how prepared we really are. I'm sure many of you already have uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) for short outages, but have you thought about a more comprehensive plan for longer ones? Picture it like this: we can evaluate outages based on three crucial aspects: the duration (think Powerdip, 4 hours, 24 hours, or even longer), the scope (is it local or widespread like across your state or country?), and the type of impact (how it affects various areas like IT, safety, or logistics). So, how prepared are you for a lengthy power outage?
5 Answers
Wow, we once managed to keep our building operational on a UPS and generator setup for almost three weeks! The building manager just had to keep refueling the diesel regularly to keep things running smoothly.
We have generators in place that transition seamlessly from mains to backup power. With enough fuel, we can keep things going for as long as needed, which gives us peace of mind during outages.
At our tier 3 co-location data center, we have a solid plan. While the downtime isn’t ideal, it’s not a company-ending disaster. We balance risk, cost, and reward to decide how much more we should invest in backup solutions.
Our setup allows for about 20 minutes of UPS support and about 4 hours with the generators. They mainly give us enough time to shut everything down gracefully. If a major outage hits like the one in Spain, we just wait it out, since our priority isn't public safety.
After the Ukraine situation, we adjusted our plans significantly. Now, our most critical locations can survive independently for 8-10 hours. Beyond that, we just shut down and wait it out since we're not vital for public infrastructure.
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