Emergency and Backup Power Sources: Preparing for Blackouts and Brownouts

Electrical Apparatus, Sep 2005 by Nailen, Richard L

Emergency power Emergency and Backup Power Sources: Preparing for Blackouts and Brownouts. By M.F. Hordeski. The Fairmont Press, Inc., 700 Indian Trail, Lilburn, Ga. 30047; (770) 925-9388. $112 (hardbound). 313 pages.

The first two chapters of this book stress the vulnerability of the electric power transmission grid, as the August 2003 blackout made clear. The author offers the reader an overview of a number of ways to provide backup power during a utility failure, including a chapter on emergency generators that deals primarily with enginegenerator sets.

Chapters 5 and 6 cover the alternative "clean power" and "renewable energy" electricity sources that are increasingly available to cope with growing demand (such as wind power, photovoltaics, and fuel cells).

What the book covers most exhaustively, in two concluding chapters, is the protection and recovery of computer files that can be damaged or lost during utility disturbances. Much of that material, describing such techniques or devices as failover clustering, kernel patches, or e-vaulting, will be familiar only to data processing professionals.

That highlights one problem with this book. The author doesn't appear to have a specific audience clearly in mind. Often too technical for most laymen-who may not grasp the significance of a synchronous machine's "pulling out of step"-the text seems superficial for engineers, who need not be told that "lubrication reduces friction."

The important role of the National Electrical Code and its distinction between "standby" and "emergency" power is not mentioned. Also not cited: other industry standards, such as IEEE 446 and NFPA 110, on the technical requirements for such power supplies.

Some generalizations are misleading, such as the statement that synchronous condensers "receive," rather than produce, leading kvars, or that the "usual" suburban community distribution voltage is 2,300 rather than 7,000-9,000.

Second, the topical coverage is unbalanced. For example, proper selection and use of an engine-generator set does not require detailed knowledge of Diesel engine theory.

Third, the text (often needlessly repetitious) suffers from inadequate editing. Punctuation errors and run-on sentences abound, as well as misspellings. The index is surprisingly sketchy. For example, an important section of the chapter on "Standby Power Systems" deals with uninterruptible power systems-a subject not found in the index.-RLN