Post-blackout, US firms jump into power generation systems

Mumbai: The recent power failure in the East Coast in the US has led to a major upheaval in the way the nation looks at power availability.

Private users and especially companies are looking at increased distributed generation of power using small, onsite power plants instead of relying strictly on the national grid system for energy needs.

Commercial property owners, who are among USA's largest users of heat and power, began investing and installing distributed generation systems following the blackouts in California earlier in 2001.

One Southern California-based company, RealEnergy, has convinced the owners and operators of over 40 commercial office properties, hotels and shopping malls on the East Coast to install the systems, thereby giving them the option to generate a significant portion of their power onsite.

Perhaps more important right now, especially in light of the recent power outages on the East Coast the systems provide a blackout-responsive recovery system. The systems can generate power independently from the grid, in the event of a system wide blackout.

There is no public money involved either. The company installs the micro-power plants at its own expense — on space it rents in the basement or on the rooftop — and sells the power back to the building, often below the equivalent cost of traditional power.