Hospitals are among the highest priority customers for electric utilities when it comes to prioritized power restoration in the aftermath of a disaster. Water systems and waste water treatment plants also rank high on a utility’s prioritized restoration list. As resources allow, other critical healthcare facilities, like large nursing homes and dialysis centers, can also be prioritized for restoration.
The Powered for Patients NIPP Security & Resilience Challenge provides a valuable opportunity for electric utilities to receive real time alerts when emergency power is threatened at critical customer sites. This information can be used to consider shifting restoration priorities to help restore power to a critical customer before emergency power is lost.
Powered for Patients needs active engagement from electric utilities and their trade associations to help determine how best to share real time alerts about threats to emergency power with electric utilities during disaster situations.
As part of this critically important collaboration, Powered for Patients is asking electric utilities and their trade associations to undertake the following activities:
- Engage in discussions with Powered for Patients about utilities’ interest level in receiving real time alerts of emergency power system threats and preferences for receiving this real time data, i.e., directly from customers, from government or both.
- Engage in discussions about the type of generator fault data that would be helpful for utilities to receive in real time or near real time from impacted customers.
The Benefits of Engaging in the Powered for Patients NIPP Security & Resilience Challenge
Electric utilities that engage in the Powered for Patients NIPP Security & Resilience Challenge will have the opportunity to shape how accelerated information sharing about threats to emergency power between customer facilities and utilities is managed.
Participating utilities and their trade associations will also be able to determine how real time communications between government and utilities around threats to emergency power are managed.
Finally, participating utilities and their trade associations can underscore their commitment to enhancing disaster preparedness and response through collaboration with government officials and healthcare customers.
Powered for Patients will gladly recognize all participating utilities and utility trade associations on the Powered for Patients NIPP Challenge web pages and will work individually with utilities and their trade associations to help highlight their engagement through various communications channels.
If you’re an electric utility leader and would like to provide your perspective on real time sharing of emergency power system status reports with government and utilities, or other aspects of this important project, please feel free to contact Project Director Eric Cote at cote@poweredforpatients.org.