Emergency Preparedness
Emergency preparedness and effective response depend entirely on the reliability and quality of a first responder's power supply. If primary grid power goes down, so too can "911" and state emergency communication centers, first responder stations, hospitals, prisons, control centers, traffic signals, public transportation, wastewater treatment facilities, water pumping stations and other critical infrastructure.

Typically facilities like hospitals have diesel generators on site for emergency power when the grid fails. Unfortunately, diesel generators have a history of failure in disaster situations including the July 1999 power outage in New York City and the massive Northeast blackout in August 2003. After Hurricane Katrina, downed power lines and flooding made it impossible to deliver diesel fuel to smaller generators that would ordinarily serve as backup power. Without electricity the Gulf Coast region was not able to function. Without power the emergency response system broke down.

Installing combined heat and power systems at critical facilities and emergency response centers could help prevent another Hurricane Katrina. The ability of a CHP system to generate both electricity and thermal energy for use in space heating/cooling, hot water and steam would allow hospitals to continue functioning, like Mississippi Baptist Medical Center (MBMC) in Jackson, MS - the only hospital in the Jackson area to continue operating at near capacity during and after Hurricane Katrina made landfall.

To learn more about how CHP can help protect your facility when natural or man-made disasters strike, please review the information below.