Field survey of the emergency power supply related to business continuity

Abstract

With the development of economic globalization, as well as the current industrial structure in which the interruption of business activities would have a worldwide impact, preparations to maintain the operation level of important business tasks in the event of a disaster have become increasingly important in both the public and private sectors. This study focused on the electrical power system in buildings and a field survey was performed on emergency power supply facilities to secure an emergency power supply in the major business districts of Japan. The objective of the study was to extract beneficial information regarding the emergency power supply capacity related to business continuity in buildings located in the central business district, to contribute to the future establishment of BCPs. The results of the analysis indicated that the percentage of the capacity of the emergency power supply in contract demand tends to be larger when running time equivalent to full-load operation is longer on the whole. The survey indicated that in the majority of the buildings, the maximum operating time on the emergency power supply is 24 h or less. Therefore, business continuity will be impossible if the power supply is interrupted for more than 24 h.