Assessing your business’s power needs is a critical step in choosing a backup power solution. After all, you can’t select an appropriate backup solution until you know how much electricity your facility and its systems use.
The following guide will help you evaluate your business power needs and start considering backup systems when you lose grid access.
How to Perform a Power Needs Evaluation
This step-by-step power guide will give you a good approximation of how much electricity your business uses. For a more detailed evaluation, hire a professional to review your systems at various points throughout the day.
Step one: Catalog your equipment
Conduct an audit to inventory all of your business’s equipment. Make sure the inventory includes each item’s electrical requirements in watts. (If you only have the equipment’s amps and voltage, multiply those numbers to get the watts.)
Sometimes, an item’s power requirements are in its user manual. Power requirements for larger equipment, such as your HVAC system, are often printed on the equipment. Search the item for a sticker with the relevant information.
If you can’t find a system’s power requirements, use a power meter to find the amount of energy it consumes. You can also hire an electrician or energy auditor to check your systems.
Step two: Track your power usage to find the peak load
Your power use likely fluctuates throughout the day. For instance, you might experience peak load times during the hottest part of the day when your HVAC system needs to cool workspaces, servers, and other areas. When you experience peak load times, however, power usage could vary significantly depending on your location, industry, and the types of equipment you use.
Knowing your peak usage makes it possible to choose business power solutions that ensure continuous operations.
Step three: Consider your future power needs
How will your business evolve over the next several years? Do you plan to upgrade equipment or add more workstations?
Any change to your business can affect its power needs. If you plan to start using on-site servers next year, your electricity usage will almost certainly go up.
Not all changes will force you to consume more electricity, though. Upgrading to more efficient equipment, for example, could actually lower your overall energy needs.
Whether you expect to consume more or less power in the near future, you want to prioritize the higher number to ensure you have a backup power system that meets your ongoing needs.
Perhaps you think your consumption will decrease next year after you move data to a cloud server. It’s tempting to save money by choosing a backup power solution that meets those future needs. That option, however, would put your current operations at risk.
Backup Business Power Solutions
At this point, you should have a reliable estimate of how much power your business consumes. Before you invest in backup business power solutions, consider:
- Whether you need to keep your entire business running during power outages or you can maintain business continuity by focusing on essential equipment.
- How long your backup system will need to run.
- Where you plan to install the backup power solution.
These factors could influence which backup power solutions you choose.
Popular options for commercial and industrial backup power include:
Natural Gas Generators
Natural gas generators tend to work well for businesses with access to natural gas lines and wellhead gas. Natural gas burns cleaner than diesel, so many companies see it as a more environmentally friendly option.
Diesel Generators
Diesel generators can produce power in practically any environment. You can install them on-site at data centers, hospitals, and other locations that can’t afford lapses in service. Many models are portable, so you can take them to remote places like construction sites that don’t yet have access to natural gas lines.
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) Systems
UPS Systems store electricity from the grid and immediately take over when your facility experiences a power disruption. Many organizations use them in coordination with natural gas or diesel generators. When an unexpected power outage occurs, a UPS system can keep equipment running while employees prepare generators.
Choose the Right Backup Power Solutions for Your Business
While some businesses have professionals who can determine how much power they use, others simply don’t have the right personnel to calculate minimal and peak usage requirements. If you need assistance, Global Power Supply can perform a power supply study. Request a study by completing this form.
Global Power Supply can do much more than perform a business power needs assessment. Our team of engineers provides diverse services, including:
- Site surveys
- Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) application surveys
- Generator application studies
- Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) services studies
Our experts can also help you choose and install new, used, and custom industrial power systems.
If you have any questions about assessing your business’s power needs and maintaining operational continuity, contact us online or call 800-706-0906.