Also known as an uninterruptible power source or battery/flywheel, a UPS provides emergency power to load when the main power source fails. A UPS is different from an auxiliary or emergency power system or standby generator because it will provide near-instantaneous protection from power interruptions, by supplying energy stored in the batteries.
A UPS unit is typically used to protect hardware like computers, data centers, telecommunication equipment and any other equipment that could cause injuries, fatalities, serious business disruption or data loss if the there was an unexpected disruption to the power supply.
UPS units range in size from units designed to protect a single computer without a video monitor (around 200 volt-ampere rating) to large units powering entire data centers or buildings. The world’s largest UPS is a 46-megawatt Battery Electric Storage System (BESS), in Fairbanks, Alaska which powers the entire city and nearby rural communities during outages.
