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When the power goes out, most businesses grind to a halt. In the best case scenario, this is an inconvenience, with customers stumbling around in the dark and POS systems sitting like useless paperweights. However, for businesses ranging from small bakeries to large-scale manufacturing, even a short power outage can be catastrophic.<\/p>\n
While none of us can control our local power grid or the increasingly severe weather events that threaten it, a commercial standby generator is a cost-effective way to avoid the pitfalls of unexpected downtime. Even as the buildings around yours go dark, you\u2019ll be able to continue operations.<\/p>\n
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However, an important question that is not always so easy to answer is: how large of a commercial generator does your business need? This article will examine this surprisingly complex question, and give you a better idea of what size generator is appropriate for your business!<\/p>\n
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Ensuring your business has the right backup generator starts with a clear understanding of your power requirements. This step is crucial, as underestimating your power system needs can leave critical systems inoperational, while overestimating can lead to paying for more generator capacity than your business will ever need
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Accurately calculating how much power generation capacity your business will need during an outage is vital. Historical data is a decent way to get a ballpark estimate of your power usage, but an energy audit is recommended.<\/p>\n
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A quick and dirty way to estimate how much power output your backup generator needs to provide is to consult your utility bills. Find your business\u2019s highest peak demand in kilowatts in the past 12 months and then add 25% to that figure for reserve capacity.<\/p>\n
For retail applications, warehouses, and commercial buildings this estimate is good as a starting point, however we do not advise using this method alone.<\/p>\n
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The best way to determine your business\u2019s energy needs is to have a professional electrician perform an energy audit. This is particularly true for businesses which have pieces of equipment with high powered electric motors as these have high peak usage on startup which cannot be accurately assessed just from looking at utility bills.<\/p>\n
Similarly, if your business is running a combination of single-phase and three-phase power<\/a> (as is common in manufacturing facilities) you will benefit from a professional evaluation.<\/p>\n