Emergency Generator

Zerohedge headline caught my eye:

Twin Hurricanes Send Generac's Portable Generator Supplies To Critically Low Levels

Well, that's not a surprise. But it got me thinking about my own situation. I'm just down the road from Intel's giant Ronler Acres plant and Intel would have taken pains to ensure that they have reliable power and so I would be protected from power outages just by virtue of being in Intel's shadow, right?

Well, maybe not. A power outage at a big wafer fab plant would cost the company a zillion dollars a nanosecond, so no matter low the odds of the power being interrupted they are going to ensure they can continue to operate, which means they are going to have emergency generators. So how many generators do they have?

Funny, no one talks about it except the EPA:

NEIC CIVIL INVESTIGATION REPORT 

Intel Aloha Campus 

Aloha, Oregon 97007

Intel Ronler Acres Campus 

Hillsboro, Oregon 97124

 

Emergency Generators and Fire Pumps Intel operates 60 diesel-fired emergency generators and 4 diesel-fired fire pumps across the Aloha and Ronler Acres campuses. The emergency generators and fire pumps are located in various buildings across the Ronler Acres and Aloha campuses. The emergency generators and the fire pumps are subject to the RICE NESHAP or the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for Stationary Compression Ignition Internal Combustion Engines (40 CFR Part 60, Subpart IIII; “NSPS IIII”). Intel operates the emergency generators for 30 minutes each month for maintenance and readiness purposes. Intel operates the fire pumps for 30 minutes each week for maintenance and readiness purposes. The emergency generators are equipped with diesel particulate filters. - page 10

NEIC is the National Environment Investigations Center.

When I was working in Beaverton, an insurance company occupied the space next to us. They kept their antique mainframe computer there. Evidently it was crucial to their business, so they had a giant friggin' Caterpillar diesel generator installed out back on its own two foot thick concrete slab. They would fire it up once a week, just to make sure it was operating. Business operates on a very different set of premises from those of a household.

We have had a couple of power outages here over the years, but none that lasted for more than a couple of hours. Of course, we haven't had any volcanoes blow up lately, but if one did I'm not sure a generator would do us any good. In any case, I'm not going to buy one now when people who really need them are having a hard time finding one.