Learning from hurricane maria
Taking a hard look at how much power is enough
As a design-build firm, San Juan-based Marpor Corporation manages various assets throughout the Caribbean islands. Because its Denny’s restaurants are open 24/7 and 365 days a year, Marpor must have full backup power to supply the operation and keep it running at all times.
“We usually keep four weeks of supplies in case of a national disaster, and having the generator enabled us to help feed the community two to three days after the storm,” says president Philip Faigenblat. “I don’t think many people have seen a Category 5 hurricane. This hurricane just toppled the whole island.”
Learning to be prepared for any eventuality
Three months after Hurricane Maria destroyed the power grid in Puerto Rico, larger customers such as Marpor were still relying on their own standby power. “There are still a lot of people on the island who just had backup generators just for critical areas versus being full power,” Faigenblat says. “And now people realize that that’s not good enough. You need full power and you need redundancy of power.”
After the storm, Marpor assessed its power needs and that of its clients. As a power customer of Rimco Cat for the last 30 years, Marpor called on their dealer to rent an XQ2000 containerized module powered by a Cat 3516C genset to adequately power their 570-room Condado Plaza hotel.
Rimco delivered quickly and sent out their team to do a startup with the Marpor team. “They have a service desk, so we can call if we encounter any problems with any of the units while in operation,” said Faigenblat. “Now that we’ve seen what can happen, we have been referring our clients to Rimco to purchase new units.”
Ensuring continuous power
Pharmaceutical company Neolpharma Puerto Rico maintains its own standby power generation system but stood to lose a substantial amount of inventory when Hurricane Maria devastated the island. To ensure continuous power, they rented a Cat XQ 2000 generator set.
Link to storyPreparing for Hurricane Maria
With dire warnings of the approach of Hurricane Maria, Mendez & Company required a backup generator to support its own standby power at a refrigerated warehouse facility. Rimco Cat was able to provide an 800 kW genset in advance of the storm.
Link to storyCat® dealer shows what it takes to keep the power on
Immediately after Maria hit, Rimco Cat sent two technicians to assist with the operation and maintenance of Auxilio Mutuo hospital’s standby gensets for the duration of the devastating aftermath.
Link to storyCat® dealer takes on the longest blackout in U.S. history
Three months after the longest blackout in U.S. history, nearly half of the island’s residents remained without power from the utility grid. Caterpillar, the Cat® dealer network, and RIMCO responded in force when Category 5 hurricane Maria caused complete failure of the power grid in Puerto Rico.
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