INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT CASE STUDY IN B.C.

Responding to an Emergency Outage at an International Airport

Whether it’s families who can’t heat their homes or companies that sustain business losses, someone is always adversely affected when there is a power outage. The question is, how seriously and to what extent. Some outages have farther-reaching effects than others, impacting not only those closest to the emergency, but other businesses and individuals down the line as well.

A recent emergency outage at a courier terminal in an international airport is a prime example of this kind of “butterfly effect”: delayed operations could have had wide-reaching effects on air shipments to and from the terminal, contributing to an already strained supply chain.

Luckily, the Trinity team was ready to respond with a fast, effective solution. Here’s how we did it.

The Client: An Award-Winning Electrical Contractor

This client has been providing electrical expertise to a variety of industries for nearly 80 years, and has won a number of awards in the process, including construction association awards of excellence, best of city awards in various locations and top employer awards. With over 900 employees, they are well-positioned to offer a broad spectrum of services, including building automation systems, infrastructure, facilities maintenance, specialized industrial services, and more. Industries they serve range from the energy sector to healthcare to government and military.

The Challenge: An Early-Morning Electrical Failure at a Critical Airport Facility

At 5am, Trinity’s emergency response team received an urgent call: an electrical failure had occurred at an international airport facility, with direct consequences for a large courier terminal. Without adequate power to the terminal, air shipments of goods into and out of the terminal would be severely impacted.

Our client needed an immediate solution to allow the facility to remain operational while they made plans for a permanent repair.

Our Approach: A Collaborative, Coordinated Effort

At Trinity Power, we believe strongly in collaboration, working with our clients and within our team to determine the best course of action. This situation was no different. Working with the on-site crew, the Trinity team identified two different potential solutions, each with different planning and execution requirements. We weighed the pros and cons to determine the best option for our client, taking into account the timelines, manpower requirements and economic impacts of each.

In the end, Trinity delivered a 750kW 120/208V generator rental and 100 feet of cable, including tails. We also provided refueling service and site logistics for delivery and installation. All of our decisions and movements were coordinated not only with our customer, but with airport personnel as well.

The Result: Buying Time to Enact a Permanent Solution

With the immediate emergency handled, the terminal was able to resume their operations, providing our client with some breathing room to determine their next steps, and to design and implement a long-term solution.