Valley looks at its power supply - Brief Article

Electronics Times, July 24, 2000

Silicon Valley is facing a power crisis as its success places increasing demands on its ageing power grid.

Oracle, one of the largest software companies in the area, has built its own power station while others are submitting applications for them. The idea of meeting peak demand in the hot summer by providing a temporary power plant on a barge has been floated.

A power blackout on 14 June is likely to have cost companies millions of dollars. The failure occurred only days after a conference called by the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group to address problems of power supply in the area.

The problems are compounded by the fact that computers are placing increasing demands on both quality and quantity of power.

Classically, power suppliers aimed for "99.9% on" supplies, corresponding to eight hours of blackout a year. But interruptions lasting a fraction of a second can disrupt high-tech applications.

Energy consumption attributable to Internet usage is now estimated at 8% of total demand in the US. The servers and computers that back up the wireless Palm Pilot, for example, have the electrical load equivalent of a refrigerator.