Supporting California Public Utilities Commission Power Back-Up Initiative
The effects of climate change are impacting organizations and individuals everywhere. The increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters, storms and fires cause serious damage to infrastructure, personal property, human health, wellbeing, and can also impede access to necessary services.
These consequences can be seen in California, where wildfires have ravaged the state in recent years. In addition to the toll on human life and property, the fires have also led to power outages that have left countless residences and businesses without electricity and telecommunications services.
In response to the outages caused by the uncontrolled fires, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) published a decision in 2020 requiring facilities-based service providers to create emergency operations plans and develop a 72-hour backup power resiliency program to ensure that a minimum level of coverage is maintained during these disasters. Providers were given one year to have the backup power infrastructure ready for use.
EnerSys® responded, providing the full design, engineering and installation for a turn-key program that equips service providers with the needed 72-hour power backup initiative.
To ensure the solutions offered met the needed requirements, EnerSys conducted detailed site audits to help determine which permanent backup power solution works best for each site, accounting for each site’s power loading capabilities, real estate availability, jurisdictional requirements and more. Making full use of the array of energy storage options that EnerSys can deliver, the backup power solutions include Thin-Plate Pure Lead (TPPL) batteries, lithium-ion modules, and Alpha power supplies, all housed in Alpha enclosures designed communications industry requirements.
In addition to the reliability and emergency preparedness these solutions offer, they also provide clean, emissions-free power, unlike diesel generators or other fossil-fuel-powered backups. The use of these clean power supplies can therefore help reduce carbon emissions, contributing to the positive cycle of mitigating climate change impacts.
Richard Seiff, Director of Services West Division for EnerSys Systems explained, “We understand the need to integrate resilience and emergency planning into utilities and communications service providers, and we know that it is beneficial for these measures to rely on resilient, clean power. We are proud that our energy solutions are helping individuals, families, emergency services and other organizations maintain access to their communications service when disasters strike.”
