Benefits of diesel-powered backup reliability, sustainability touted to leading port operators

The benefits of diesel-powered backup generators were recently shared with the nation’s port managers and senior port executives during the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) Energy and Environment Seminar.

Ezra Finkin, director of Policy and External Affairs at Diesel Technology Forum, said at the seminar that when the nation’s ports face a disaster, diesel-powered backup generators are a technology of choice, offering operational and economic benefits for port operations.

“The smooth operation of America’s ports depends upon a continuous electrical supply,” Finkin said. “Diesel gensets are in the field today, providing reliable, economic and sustainable mission-critical services to communities around the globe. Diesel offers an option that port operators can depend upon while reducing costs and minimizing risks. Outages owing to severe weather events, like Hurricane Florence, now threatening the entire Eastern Seaboard, are becoming more costly; the average outage costs between $18 billion and $33 billion. Reliable sources of emergency backup power can help mitigate the downtime and economic impacts of an outage.”

Officials said diesel is one of the only technologies capable of providing full load within seconds of an outage, adding it takes 10 seconds or less for start-up and full load handling with a diesel-powered genset. Other fuel sources may take up to two minutes, which may be too long in many emergency situations.

Diesel is also fully transportable and accessible, meaning that diesel generators and fuel can be delivered to almost any location, including remote and rural areas.