In many parts of the world regular interruptions to the grid power supply are a way of life, with frequent black- or brown-outs occurring on a weekly or even daily basis. There are many different reasons for a grid to become unreliable, such as energy supply issues, weak infrastructure or extreme weather. Yet, the challenges for Commercial and Industrial (C&I) sites are usually the same: lost production, lower workforce efficiency and potential damage to their process equipment. In many cases power outages on critical manufacturing lines will also damage the work-in-process, further impacting operational costs.
Power outages have a material negative impact and remain a major issue in many geographies with significant social and economic impacts. Figure 3 shows an assessment of the impacts on C&I sites in both developed and developing countries.