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While ongoing investigations and analyses try to work out exactly what happened, the reality is that some 60 million people were affected for many hours, during which time they were unable to work, communicate, or enjoy their leisure time. In economic terms, it is estimated that the total cost of the blackout could be between 2 and 4 billion euros, and it is important to acknowledge, without causing alarm, that similar situations may occur in the future. The ongoing electrification of economic and social activities is inevitable, necessitating appropriate measures to safeguard sensitive and costly assets from downtime and deterioration, not to mention the reputation of businesses, organisations and the country as a whole.

The solution: UPS systems
The risk of suffering the consequences of a power outage has always existed. In the summer of 2003, for example, a software glitch knocked out the power grid in the eastern United States and Canada, affecting some 55 million people living in cities including New York, Cleveland and Toronto for several days. In the two decades that have passed since then, transportation and communications systems, as well as industries, businesses, and homes in developed countries, have become even more dependent on electricity. Consequently, if a similar event were to occur again, the potential consequences would likely be even more severe.

Given the increasing risk of such events, having equipment that can effectively respond to a grid failure has become essential. Fortunately, this equipment does exist and has more than proved its worth in these scenarios: Uninterruptible Power Supply systems (UPS) are devices whose primary mission is to store energy that can provide a continuous supply of alternating current. Although power generators are often touted as the best solution for maintaining power, a generator alone is of no use in the event of a blackout, as it does not prevent the initial power outage itself and thus the disruption, which results in downtime, the need to reboot systems, and even damage to sensitive components.

The backup time offered by a UPS is, of course, a key parameter. As an industry benchmark, Salicru manufactures models that are capable of offering outstanding backup time. Proven success stories have documented backup durations of up to 10 hours, achieved with three types of batteries: lead-calcium, nickel-cadmium, and lithium-ion.

During a short disturbance (a micro-outage, for example), the UPS will power the loads to prevent any interruption in their supply. In the event of a longer outage of several minutes or hours, it will continue to supply power to the loads during the time it takes to switch to the generator, which can be anywhere from a few seconds to about half a minute. The UPS will then remain connected to the generator supply to keep its batteries charged. However, if the generator should fail, the UPS will switch to batteries and issue an alert to initiate an alternative redundancy plan or perform a safe shutdown.