Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

There are many reasons and conditions that lead to power outages such as major storms and heavy winds. Usually an area will be on the receiving end of one of these outages a couple of times a year, but you have to wonder what is going on when one town is hit four times in the scope of 36 days.

Laughlin, NV, suffered through its fourth power outage on March 26, which fortunately lasted less than two hours affecting 109 customers. The unfortunate part is that the affected area included businesses and resort properties, as well as the Laughlin outlet mall and convenience stores.

The only information about the latest incident was that a cable failed. The first instance, occurring on February 19, was due to an explosion and fire at the Big Bend substation, which knocked out power to the entire township for several hours. Weather conditions were the reason for the next outage followed by high winds on March 11.

It seems that every possible cause that we see throughout the country hit Laughlin in a matter of weeks, causing as many as 5,000 customers to be without power. When you consider that resorts and convenience stores were affected during the latest outage, you can see the need for a good power backup strategy that includes generators and uninterrupted power supplies (UPS).

It is always interesting to see what UPS solutions companies put in place. When power went out at the resort, there were emergency generators to supply lights to the casino area, but hotel floors, including the elevators that access them are generally without lights and ventilation during electrical outages.

The businesses in Laughlin that were affected could have lost valuable data and equipment, while the convenience stores could have lost refrigerated items. The resorts reservation system is computerized, meaning that without a solid UPS strategy thousands of guests’ information could be in jeopardy.

As we have seen lately, there are many factors that can cause power outages; the constant is the fact that once the power goes out, individual and business data, as well as equipment is always put at risk. The simple strategy of connecting your more sensitive equipment and data storage devices to a UPS could save a lot of headaches.