THE REAL COST OF POWER OUTAGES
For the majority of businesses, a power outage can be both frustrating and costly. For some it can grind operations and output to a complete halt.
This is true for both service and product-based businesses, though the financial loss will differ depending on the length of the power outage and size of the business in question.
For example, a small service-based business reliant on power for WIFI connection would suffer less of a financial loss compared to a large food manufacturer, who may not only lose income through failing to adhere to product demand, but also in having to dispose of any processed product which may be ruined as a result of the power outage.
Traditionally, large businesses have relied on back-up generators as a supporting power supply to protect against power outages. However with an increased use in diesel fuel and ongoing maintenance costs, back-up generators are losing market share, with Battery Energy Storage systems quickly picking up pace.
That said, what is the real cost of a power outage for your business? And how can a Battery Energy Storage System help overcome this risk?
How much would a power outage cost my business?
The costs of downtime are many and varied, depending on the specific facility, usage and capacity. However, these typically include:
-
Labour downtime, overtime, management and overheads
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Line bottlenecks, maintenance, engineering, tooling and start-up
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Quality control, scrapped product, sales and replenishment
Whereas a small office with 100 staff might lose an average of £2,000 per hour, a small food processor who processes perhaps 2 million pies an hour would lose an average of £21,000 in one hour.
As the size of the manufacturer grows, so does the loss from a power outage, demonstrated by the indicative figures below:
|
EXAMPLE |
BASED ON |
INDICATIVE COST OF 1 HOUR POWER OUTAGE |
|
Small Office |
100 People |
£2,000 |
|
Micro-Brewery |
15,000 barrels per annum |
£3,000 |
|
Raw Material Manufacturer |
20,000 bricks per hour |
£7,000 |
|
Food Processor |
3,000 chickens per hour |
£11,000 |
|
Medium Office |
500 People |
£12,000 |
|
UK Manufacturing Average |
133,000 Manufacturers producing £6.7tn output |
£19,000 |
|
Small Food Manufacturer |
2.3m mince pies per 2 hours |
£21,0000 |
|
Consumables Manufacturer |
50,000 light bulbs per hour |
£28,000 |
|
Large Office |
2,000 People |
£48,000 |
|
Large Food Manufacturer |
64m boxes of cereal pa |
£57,000 |
|
Regional Brewery |
3m barrels per annum |
£305,000 |
|
Vehicle Manufacturer |
100,000 units per annum, 10,000 people |
£855,000 |
With this in mind, do you know what the real cost per hour would be for a power outage in your site?
How can Battery Energy Storage Systems help?
A Battery Energy Storage System is very simply a series of batteries which can charge from the distribution network and release the power to your commercial premises as and when you want it to.
Connected directly to the existing Low Voltage [LV] installation for your site, Battery Energy Storage Systems store any unused power or energy, which is then released during peak periods to help organisations reduce energy costs, or during the event of a power outage, acting as an immediate back-up power supply to ensure production or service delivery is not effected as a result.
Battery Energy Storage systems are fast-becoming an effective solution for eliminating the risk of power outages.
Are you interested in finding out how Battery Energy Storage can stack-up for your business? Contact a member of the Rock Clean Energy team today at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 0330 223 4566.
