by Brianna Crandall — July 20, 2016 — To more effectively use capital and significantly reduce operating costs associated with electrical infrastructure, mission-critical operators can now deploy Active Power’s flywheel uninterruptible power supply (UPS) products and pay for the solution on a usage basis. This potentially eliminates upfront capital expenditures through the Burland Energy SA UPS-as-a-Service (UPSaaS) program.
The UPS-as-a-Service (UPSaaS) program challenges the conventional approach to purchasing critical backup power equipment by offering conditioned power to customers based on a fixed rate per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity conditioned by the UPS.
Active Power will sell its UPS products to Burland Energy, deliver and commission products at the UPSaaS customer’s site, and provide all after-sale services on behalf of Burland Energy. The promotion of the UPSaaS program will be coordinated by Active Power and Burland Energy through their existing sales networks.
Risto Thurén, president of Burland Energy, explained:
UPSaaS is a comprehensive power conditioning service. UPSaaS is not a traditional product financing program, but a simple extension to the utility bill. Unlike leasing arrangements, UPSaaS is provided as a service and as such could be treated as an operational expense. Our customers will receive fully conditioned, uninterruptible power at a fixed kWh price. With Active Power, we are extending the existing “Everything-as-a Service (XaaS)” concept beyond software and platform solutions.
UPSaaS is an open-ended contract between Burland Energy SA and their end customer, unlike conventional capital equipment leases. End customers never assume ownership of any assets needed to provide fully conditioned power, which can represent a shift from CapEx to OpEx. Monthly billing is based on a fixed rate per kilowatt hour consumed rather than fixed monthly payments in a leasing arrangement. Every UPSaaS solution that Burland Energy SA sells to its end customer includes a minimum five-year service contract.
Todd Kiehn, vice president, Marketing and Modular Solutions, at Active Power, added:
The UPSaaS model makes for a compelling alternative to traditional capital equipment purchases, particularly as operators are challenged to do more with less — less capital and operating spending, less downtime, and less carbon emissions. Burland Energy innovative UPSaaS offering enables customers to deploy our CleanSource UPS that lowers operating expenses, is 12 times less likely to fail, and has 90 percent less carbon emissions compared to conventional products.
Facilities managers looking for a source for backup power can find more information on Burland Energy’s UPSaaS Web page or Active Power’s UPS-as-a-Service Web page.
