• Outline the need to conduct a generator assessment at a facility and list what essential elements of information are required
• Describe options for locating and procuring generators.

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• A facility generator assessment is conducted to determine what size of generator is required to provide Temporary Emergency Power to the facility when the commercial power grid had been compromised.
• Identifying materials required to connect the generator to the facility is part of this assessment.

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• Basic household electrical use and needs are fairly consistent across the United States. Commercial and industrial use and requirements are not.
• Each facility’s internal electrical distribution system can vary widely.
• The manner in which a local utility or co-op distributes electrical power to a facility as well as how the internal electrical distribution system of a facility was designed and constructed also impacts the type of generator that is required.
• The requirements for a generator can vary widely from one facility to the next, even if both are in the same community. Conducting an assessment is the only way to know the specific requirements of an individual facility.

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• Pre-event identification of the generator a facility will need and the materials required to install that generator makes the temporary emergency power process more efficient post-event.
• It is strongly recommended that facilities managers conduct assessments before a generator is needed.
• The worst time to conduct a facility assessment is after commercial power has already been compromised by an outage event.

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• Licensed electrical professionals should perform the assessment due to the technical expertise required. It is strongly recommended the following types of personnel are used to perform a facility assessment:
• Licensed Journeyman or Master Electrician
• Licensed Electrical Engineer
• 249th Engineering Battalion “Prime Power” Assessment Teams
• Facility Operator
• Many facility operators are very knowledgeable of the electrical operations and requirements of their facilities and may be able to perform an assessment. However, it is strongly recommended that a licensed electrical professional verify their assessment data.

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• One of the biggest considerations is the use of a facility during an event. It’s important to know if a facility will require all electrical components operational or only a portion of them. This will have a direct impact on the generator required.
• Many facility operators want or need every electrical component of their system to operate, so their assessment is straightforward.

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• Many larger facilities such as hospitals and larger urban water and wastewater systems require large capacity electrical generators to provide full facility electrical power; some of these can be 5 megawatts or more.
• Commercially available generators are readily available up to 2 megawatts, but very few are readily available above that size.
• During the assessment, the electrical professional may need to determine if electrical loads can be split inside the facility to allow multiple generators to be installed and provide the full power load required.

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• If a facility only needs a smaller segment of its electrical system to be powered during a power outage, there are several considerations that should be addressed during the assessment.
• Ensure there is a lock-out/tag-out procedure in place to turn off and leave off the circuit breakers that normally provide power to the now unused part of the facilities electrical system.
• Ensure the facility occupants are aware of the situation so that they leave these breakers alone and turned off.
• Many times the generator required to power the full facility electrical load is unavailable at the time of the outage so a smaller generator is installed. Parts of the facility are energized, but other parts are not. Facility tenants who may not have power can get upset and try to take matters into their own hands. They may turn on breakers that increase the facility electrical load which can overload the generator. This situation requires a delicate balancing act that the facilities manager should be aware of before he or she elects to partially power the facility.

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• The assessment shall list the name and physical address of the facility. It is strongly recommended the assessment include the facility’s Global Positioning System (GPS) Latitude and Longitude in degrees-minutes-seconds or in decimal degrees. It is also strongly recommended any decimal degree GPS data be captured and recorded to a value to the sixth point to the right of the decimal point.
• The assessment shall indicate the intended use of the facility for post incident/event use.
• The assessment shall indicate a Facility Point-of-Contact (POC). This POC should be a person who can actually allow the generator to be installed and provide a generator install crew access to the locations and components of the facility. Both land-line and cellular telephone numbers, as well as an email address shall be provided for the POC.
• If an alternate POC at the facility is available, his/her information as listed above shall also be provided.
• The assessment shall also determine if a single generator will be able to provide the required Temporary Emergency Power or if multiple generators will be required.

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• The assessment shall also determine the location(s) at which the generator(s) will be physically connected to the facility’s electrical distribution system.
• Shall the connection point be to an internally located electrical distribution location such as a single, or multiple, electrical panel(s)?
• Shall the connection point be to an externally located electrical distribution point?
• If so, what is the location of the panel(s)? This also needs to include the electrical grounding location(s).
• If the facility is large, it is strongly recommended the GPS location of the actual site of the desired generator installation location be recorded as well so the installer can place the generator in the correct physical location.

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• Generator-specific information requirements include the kilowatt, voltage, and phase of the generator required.
• The assessment shall list the “type” of the generator electrical connection required, either “delta” or “wye”.

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• The size of electrical cable to be used to connect the generator to the facility’s electrical distribution system
• The number and lengths of cable runs required to make this connection
• The number and size of lugs required to physically connect the cable runs to the facility’s electrical distribution system
• The size and length of the ground cable to be used
• The number of ground rods to be used, if required
• The number and size of the lugs required to hook to the ground cable and ground rods or existing facility grounding point

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• One last extremely important item the assessment should list is the location of the fusible links that connect the facility to the commercial power system.
• The generator installer, or the utility company itself, must disconnect those links before the generator is operational.
• If not, when the generator is operational, it will back feed the commercial power system and endanger the safety and lives of the utility line worker working to restore the power grid.

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• Emergency Power Facility Assessment Tool, or EPFAT, is a website tool operated and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It contains facility assessment data from two primary sources:
• Facilities assessed in previous disasters/exercises by the 249th Engineer Battalion “Prime Power” assessment teams from 2008-present.
• Facility assessment data entered from 2013-present by existing facility owners.
• It provides an off-site repository for this assessment data to be stored. Data is specific to a UserID and password. Only the person who entered the data for a facility can edit or change it. The website contains a “How To” guide that provides a hard copy form to record the required assessment data for the facility. Local, State, and Federal Emergency Management staff can also review the data.
• If an event occurs which results in a Presidential Disaster Declaration, Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA)-provided generators can be used to power critical facilities. If a facility’s data is already on file, it eliminates the need for an assessment team from the 249th to travel to a facility and conduct an assessment. Instead, a generator will be dispatched based upon the data stored in EPFAT.
• Should a more localized event occur, this data can allow local organizations to attempt to locate and obtain a generator that can fill the need.
• EPFAT Website address: (http://epfat.swf.usace.army.mil/Welcome.aspx)

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• If the outage causing event results in a Presidential Disaster Declaration, FEMA can provide generators to the event as requested by the State. FEMA maintains a total of 16 generator “power packs” at their four Continental United States (CONUS) Distribution Centers (DCs):
• Atlanta, GA
• Frederick, MD
• Fort Worth, TX
• Oakland, CA
• Each DC maintains four of these power packs. The normal complement of each power pack is 30 generators.
• The power packs also contain material and supplies (called BOM or Basic Order of Materials) needed to install the generators.

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• Should the event be of such a scope that additional generators are required, FEMA will provide additional generators leased/rented from the commercial market. This is also the case if generators are required for facilities which require larger generator sizes than the normal generator units in the FEMA inventory.
• FEMA's overall inventory of 1 megawatt and larger generators is very small and most required generators in this size range are leased/rented from the commercial market.
• The 249th Engineer Battalion can make a number of their organic unit generator units available for a Stafford Act declared disaster. However, these might have very limited overall facility use possibilities as the normal output for their units is 4160 volts. Most facilities would not accept this output voltage. In most cases normally hospitals are the primary users of 4160 volt power.
• State National Guard units have provided their organic unit generators to support an impacted State’s needs, but in most cases, these generators are smaller than 40-60 kW. These can support some smaller facility needs, but not all potential identified needs.
• Municipal and County Public Works Departments, some utilities, and other various “departments” in various levels of government in some locations may also be able to offer some limited support by providing generators, but most of these overall inventories are fairly low. They may be able to assist with some needs, but not all potential identified needs.
• For a small event that FEMA is not supporting, the commercial market is normally the most likely and available location to obtain a generator.

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• If the generator is to come from a commercially available source, most organizations have applicable procurement processes requirements that must be followed. Many of these also have procedures for expedited procurement actions.
• Most state Emergency Management Communities of Practice also maintain a resource request system/process that should be followed to request the generator from another internal agency/department. It may also be possible that using the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) process may be appropriate if the generator is from an out-of-state agency.
• Some water and wastewater utility systems are part of the Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network (WARN). This may be the appropriate course of action to follow for that utility.
• Use the applicable process that fits your situation.
• If the event is part of a Stafford Act Disaster Declaration, the Emergency Management resource request process must be followed to elevate the request from the local level to the State level who, in turn, will provide to FEMA for Federal support to be provided. If this process is used, be sure to include the prioritization of the facility to receive a generator.

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• Under most circumstances these FEMA-supplied generators are installed by Emergency Support Function (ESF) #3, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, via the use of a United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) contractor.
• Soldiers from the 249th Engineer Battalion “Prime Power” provide technical expertise and conduct facility assessments if there is not one on record.
• The mission is a turnkey mission. USACE and their contractor prepare the generators for use, haul them to the facility locations, install them, fuel and service them until commercial power has been restored, de-install them and transport them back for event re-use or for shipment back to the FEMA DC when no unmet generator needs exist.

Audio Transcript

• A facility generator assessment is conducted to determine what size of generator is required to provide Temporary Emergency Power to the facility when the commercial power grid had been compromised.
• Identifying materials required to connect the generator to the facility is part of this assessment.

Audio Transcript