DEPARTMENT STORE CASE STUDY

An Outage at a Major Department Store Requires an After-Hours Solution

Major department stores occupy a large square-footage. While their size allows for the movement of a great deal of product, the costs of operating these spaces mean that even a short unplanned closure can have a big impact on the bottom line.

When a large Vancouver area retail outlet experienced an after-hours outage recently, the Trinity team knew what was at stake, and came together to design and deliver a temporary solution that would enable the store to re-open as quickly as possible. Here’s how we did it.

The Client: Nearly 100 Years in the Electrical Contracting Business

One of the largest electrical contracting companies in southwestern BC, this client is also one of the oldest. They have been in business for over 90 years, offering electrical contracting services, including emergency response, in commercial and industrial settings and beyond.

The Challenge: An After-Hours Outage at the Mall

Trinity’s after-hours team received the call at 5:30pm: one phase of the main high-voltage feed for a mall in metro Vancouver had been severed by an excavator, leaving the retail establishment without power. Our client was tasked with bringing the site back online quickly enough to mitigate any business loss.

Knowing that Trinity Power provides fast, reliable emergency temporary power solutions, our client reached out to us to determine which equipment they required and then source it as well.

Our Approach: A Tailored, Full-Service Solution

Based on the site requirements, the Trinity team began to design a solution right away.

Leveraging our power broker model, we worked with one of our partners to procure a 1MW 480V generator with a 1500kVA auto transformer to step up to 600V.

We supplied the rest of the equipment from our own inventory:

• Two 350 foot lengths of 4/0 camlok cable (one to feed into the 600V bus on site, and the other to feed the 208V bus)
• A 800A breaker disconnect
• A 600A breaker disconnect
• A 450kVA transformer to step the second cable down from 600V to 120/208V

Because of the size of some of the equipment, we organized a truck with a mounted crane to help with offloading.

In addition to sourcing and delivering the required equipment, the Trinity team provided a number of other services to ensure our client was well taken care of. We provided a single line drawing of the system, along with cable counts, to make installation easier for our client. Due to the size of the equipment, we also organized a truck with a mounted crane to assist with offloading. Finally, Trinity provided fuel service for the duration of the rental, with the fuel truck performing daily checks to ensure the generator remained optimally fueled.

The Result: A Quick Solution Keeps the Doors Open

Thanks to Trinity’s emergency response services, and our ability to quickly source the necessary equipment — even after-hours — our client was able to respond just as quickly for their client.

We were able to have the equipment on site by 10:30pm – just 5 hours after the initial phone call. And the department store was able to open their doors to customers on schedule the following day.