by Brianna Crandall — March 18, 2016—Power management company Eaton has just announced the release of its Blackout Tracker Annual Report for 2015. For the seventh consecutive year, California topped the list of states with the most power outages, followed by Texas and New York. Over 3,714 people were affected for over 49 minutes per outage in 2015, and power failures created difficulties for individuals and businesses in all 50 states.
Mike DeCamp, senior marketing communications manager, Eaton’s Power Quality Division, noted:
Downtime has the ability to cause damage and loss of revenue in a matter of minutes. The Blackout Tracker Annual Report illustrates the scope of power outages across the country and their ever-increasing business impact. The data and trends outlined in this year’s report underscore the importance of a comprehensive power protection plan and considering the best power backup solutions to avoid downtime and interruptions in business.
Blackout Tracker Annual Report data is based on a full year of reported power outages across the United States and is organized into three sections: an introduction to power outages and the impact of downtime, an overview of national power outage data, and power outage data by state.
Overall, 3,571 reported outages were used as the basis for the 2015 report. Complete data is often unavailable on certain aspects of reported outages, including the number of people affected and the duration of the blackout, notes Eaton.
Eaton’s annual report also features “top” outage lists, including the most significant reported outages, largest data center outages, and the most unusual causes for outages.
Among the most unusual causes of power outages in 2015 were a Canada goose flying into a power line in Wyoming, a man flying a drone into power lines in California, and a young woman who was driving a car in North Carolina when she ran off the road and struck a power pole because she had dropped her lit cigarette and was trying to pick it up off the floor.
According to federal databases at the Department of Energy and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the USA suffers more blackouts than any other developed nation. Although power failures are common due to weather and unforeseen events, uninterruptible power systems (UPSs), generators, and power management software solutions are designed to deliver reliable emergency power during outages, reminds Eaton.
Eaton has tracked power outage information since February 2008 to educate consumers about the causes and impact of outages. Eaton provides a robust portfolio of power management solutions for data centers and other mission-critical facilities to avoid downtime, including UPSs, power distribution products, data center services, power management software, IT rack systems, and data center air containment solutions, as well as medium- and low-voltage switchgear.
To download the entire annual report and track power outages across the USA or other countries, visit the Eaton Blackout Tracker Web page. To learn about the company’s line of power quality products and services, visit the Eaton Web site.
