Companies seek ways to improve power reliability, quality
In June 2000, a single day of rolling blackouts cost the 200 members of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group an estimated $100 million. The high-tech nature of the Silicon Valley companies' business made them unusually vulnerable to power interruptions. But as the economy has come to rely on computers for all aspects of business, it likewise is developing a tremendous craving for quality power (electricity that does not surge or sag) and reliable power (electricity that does not quit).
Digital equipment for Internet host sites, telecommunications hardware and even manufacturing controls require clean, reliable power. And U.S. companies are looking for ways to insulate themselves from the caprices of an aging electrical grid in the throes of piecemeal, state-by-state restructuring and deregulation.