In reading the different posts, I get the impression that some of you are using gen sets as your only source of back-up power for emergency (700) systems. 700.12 says that these systems must be on-line in 10 seconds after a power failure to supply the load. It seems that battery systems and/or UPS still need to be used to carry through to successful gen set start-up (if that occurs). After all most transfer switchs delay some period of time just to make sure that the power is truly off and that the utility recloser has locked out and then the generator must come on-line successfully before being allowed to assume a load.
Having gone through Hugo and a little bit of Charlie (without power this time for two days) the odds based on historical data say that a catastrophic strike of that magnitude (Hugo, Andrew, Charlie) may only happen once in a fifty or hundred year period to a particular area. From an economic viewpoint it's hard to justify the outlay of money to put in an infinite amount of fuel supply or foresee all the possible scenarios that may occur. In these parts of South Carolina, the hospitals got priority in getting fuel and getting the utility power back on.
[This message has been edited by GamecockEE (edited 08-18-2004).]
