Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

For the second time in about two weeks, a major power outage in Denver, Colorado, left thousands of customers in the dark Tuesday evening.  This time, a downed transmission line impacted some 30,000 customers.  The downed line was repaired and power restored inside of two hours but, as temperatures get colder, utility companies need to take care to ensure their systems are functioning properly and take steps to reduce risk of outage. 

Though Xcel Energy says the incident is unrelated other recent outages, including a separate smaller outage Tuesday only a few blocks away, which was repaired shortly after midnight, the repeated incidents could be cause for concern over the grid’s stability in the area, especially with winter looming.  Tuesday’s widespread outage, in fact, originated at the same substation where an outage earlier this month knocked out power for 11,000 customers.

The outages also should raise a red flag for businesses.  With every outage, the technology they depend upon is at risk of damage – in fact, even without outages, there is a degree of risk.  The fact is that power spikes and surges, which typically accompany outages but can occur at any time, pose a threat to the sensitive circuitry inside equipment.  That includes servers, switches, storage devices, firewalls, and any other equipment. 

If the microcircuits are damaged, they can knock services and resources offline for extended periods, while the cause is identified, damage is assessed, and repair work is completed or replacement equipment purchased, delivered, installed, and configured.  That’s assuming a replacement is readily available and can be shipped quickly.  Even so, the process can take days – weeks or longer if availability is limited, and doesn’t account for the costs involved, including extensive operational downtime.