Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

It is bad enough when a power outage occurs on a typical day, but what happens when the outage takes place in a business zone on graduation weekend in a prominent college town?

Last month, a downtown power outage in South Bend, Ind., cost businesses at least $3 million in economic impact, according to an analysis from Downtown South Bend, Inc. (DTSB).

It was caused by an underground electrical fire near the intersection of Washington and Lafayette streets on Friday, May 16. Indiana Michigan Power cut power to the downtown area as a precaution. The fire damaged power circuits in underground vaults, according to a report from The Associated Press.

In total, some 800 residences and businesses in downtown South Bend lost power. The outage lasted from a Thursday night through a Sunday afternoon, and the estimate includes business losses, lost sales, lost or decreased productivity, as well as lost inventory, and the cost of needed police patrols. For instance, the Magnuson Grand, a hotel with 163 rooms, had to close between Friday and Sunday afternoon – even though it was largely booked for graduation weekend for Notre Dame and St. Mary's College. The Subway restaurant and the Main Street Coffee House closed for some of the weekend, too.

“It couldn’t have happened on a worse weekend,” Aaron Perri, DTSB executive director, told WNDU.

About 3,293 students were to graduate from the local colleges that weekend – 273 from Saint Mary's College and 3,020 from the University of Notre Dame. Some of Notre Dame’s honorary degree recipients this year included Cardinal O’Malley, archbishop of Boston, and Judith Jamison, artistic director emerita of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. And the two commencements bring in 26,000 visitors – and no one wanted their celebratory plans interrupted.

But the $3 million cost could have doubled – if businesses did not spend an estimated $125,000 to bring in generators for emergency power. “I think it’s safe to say that any business that temporarily restored power was profitable that weekend and would not have been had they not been able to restore power,” Perri said.

DTSB wants to make sure plans and infrastructure are in place to prevent such losses in the future. One option that can help prevent loss in business productivity or ease the impact of an outage at home is having an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS.) For example, Minuteman's line of battery-backup products will protect users from power problems. A UPS has batteries to offer backup power in an outage so users can safely save open files and then shut down the system, or, work until power is restored. Some of the UPSs are targeted for residential use, and others will meet the need of businesses. For instance, Minuteman and GE offer a line of three-phase UPS solutions. These include options for applications ranging from 10kVA to 750kVA, and back up large electrical loads. Uses include data centers, industrial equipment, enterprise-wide backup, and critical systems requiring redundant backup.