At most residential buildings, a power outage means dark common areas and warm fridges. At a building with a basement full of vehicles and equipment, an outage during heavy rain can be much more expensive.
The basement drainage and sump pumps need electricity. If the mains fails during a storm, water can build up around parked cars, lifts, electrical equipment, storage areas and the lower parts of the building.
For this Paradise Point property, we designed the standby system around the nominated essential services, with the stormwater pumps at the centre of the load assessment. The generator also supports other selected building loads, but keeping water moving was the reason the system was needed.
A backup generator does not remove every flood risk. It does remove one obvious point of failure: losing power to the equipment that is supposed to pump water out of the basement. That can reduce damage, disruption and the size of a potential insurance claim.
Insurers may take completed risk-mitigation work into account, although premiums, excesses and coverage always depend on the policy. Owners and strata managers should give their insurer the final documentation and ask how the installation affects their cover.
The practical result is that the pumps can continue operating through a mains outage. Keeping the lights, air conditioning and beer cold is useful too, but protecting the basement drove the design.