Global Power Supply CEO Ron Zamir stands with an ultra silent portable backup generator at television station KEYT, known as a “Whisperwatt,” designed for use in emergencies. Photo by Alex Drysdale. Reprint posted with permission from Pacific Coast Business Times.
By Dara Barney
Imagine being under general anesthesia at the dentist’s office when suddenly a windstorm knocks the power out.
Global Power Supply is working to make sure that when that happens, you’re not left in the dark.
“We keep the lights on,” said Global Power Supply CEO and co-founder Ron Zamir.
Santa Barbara-based Global Power provides backup generator systems for hospitals, medical offices and data centers, as well as some of the biggest names in business and technology.
“What is most important is public safety, and having some sort of backup system is very necessary,” Zamir said, explaining that while one part of Global Power’s business comes from providing backup power to critical health care operations, it also provides “prime power” to oil and gas-mining operations — places run exclusively on generators.
“In oil, there is a huge demand for temporary interim power,” said Mike Wolfe, Global Power Supply’s co-founder and vice president of power solutions. “When you are in production mode, pumping oil out of the ground, there are no poles, no plug-in power sources. We provide portable generators that supply continuous power, with rapid delivery powered by natural gas.”
According to Zamir, a Global Power Supply generator could provide anywhere from 100 kilowatts to 20 megawatts of power and cost between $5,000 to $40 million, depending on the size and the needs.
“If you think about it, spending millions of dollars a day, a data center must have financial investment in generator power to have that feeling of wellbeing, to know you have that power system as backup in a power outage,” he said.
Regional businesses the firm has worked with include Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Rabobank in Santa Maria, First Republic Bank, KEYT, La Cumbre Water District, Venoco and Bacara Resort & Spa, Zamir said.
It has also worked with giants such as include Bank of America, Facebook, ConocoPhillips, Time Warner Telecom, Wells Fargo and eBay.
Zamir also said talks with nonprofits in the region are underway. The firm is developing plans to maintain backup power supply for dentist offices, the American Red Cross in Santa Barbara and Unity Shoppe’s facilities at 110 Sola St. in Santa Barbara.
The firm, with 2012 revenue of $31 million and 20 employees, plans to hire more people by the end of the year.
“With our growth, we are heading toward $40 million in revenue by 2014,” Zamir said.