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 $1.0\mathrm{MW}$ backup power project for a 367-bed hospital and a $1.25\mathrm{MW}$ 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.