Storm Season Starts Now: Building a Backup Power Plan for Your Site

When a storm hits, the power rarely goes off at a convenient moment. One outage can stop work, put people at risk and leave you counting the cost in downtime for days. The UK's storm season is already under way, and the sites that ride it out best are the ones with a plan in place before the first warning is issued. Here's how to build a backup power plan that keeps your sire running, whatever the forecast.

Know Your Critical Loads

Start by asking a simple question: if the mains power supply failed right now, what must keep running?

Welfare facilities keep your team warm, dry and compliant, and losing heating or drying rooms in winter quickly becomes a safety issue. Pumps protect excavations, basements and plant from flooding, so they are often the most time-critical load of all. Lighting keeps walkways, access points and work areas safe as daylight hours shrink.

List every item on each circuit, note its power rating and decide which loads are essential and what can wait. This becomes the foundation of everything else in the plan.

Sizing a Standby Generator

Generators are rated in kVA (kilovolt-amperes), which measures the total power a generator can supply. Most equipment is rated in kW (kilowatts), the power it actually uses. As a rule of thumb, kW is roughly 80% of kVA, so a 100 kVA generator will deliver around 80 kW of usable power.

It's not just about adding up the running loads. Pumps, compressors and other motor-driven equipment draw several times their running current at start-up, and your size generator needs the headroom to handle the surge without tripping. Undersize it, and your critical kit won't start. Oversize it, and a lightly loaded diesel generator runs inefficiently, burns more fuel than it needs to and can suffer from carbon build-up over time.

GAP's Power Generation division supplies generators from 20 kVA to 500 kVA, all Stage V compliant, with load share and synchronisation on units over 100 kVA. That means larger sites can run several generators together and bring capacity online as demand changes.

Fuel Planning and Refuelling in Bad Weather

A generator is only as reliable as its fuel supply, and storms make refuelling harder. Fallen trees, flooded roads and closed routes can delay a fuel delivery just when you need it most.

Work out how many hours of run time your fuel tank gives you at your expected load, then plan to fill up before a named storm arrives, not during it. GAP's generators are available with fuel tank capacities from 1,000 to 9,000 litres, so you can match tank size to how long your site needs to keep going without a top-up. Every unit is fully bunded as standard, protecting the ground and watercourse from spills.

Think about access too. Make sure the refuelling point is reachable by a bowser in poor conditions, keep the route clear of stored materials and check the tanks are secure against fuel theft.

Remote Monitoring with GAP Track

In severe weather, the last thing you want is a team member walking on a flooded site at night to check whether a generator is still running. GAP Track, our mixed-fleet telematics platform built in partnership with Hiboo, gives you real-time visibility of your equipment from wherever you are.

Our generators feature solar-powered telematics as standard, so you can keep an eye on running status, operating hours and fuel levels remotely. Spot a problem early, plan refuelling around actual usage rather than guesswork and send your team out only when needed.

Power Your Site Through Storm Season with GAP

Storms don't keep office hours, and neither do we. Our Power Generation team provides 24/6, 365-day support, backed by a nationwide network of more than 200 depots and the experience of a family-rooted business that has been keeping UK sites running since 1969.

Don't wait for the next weather warning. Speak to our Power Generation team today to book a load assessment and build your backup power plan before the storm arrives.

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