Metro Energy Solutions Announces Contract with Ricoh Corporation to Install 1 MW Back-Up Generator

West Caldwell, NJ - September, 2004 – Metro Energy Solutions announced today it has entered into a contract with Ricoh Corporation, located in West Caldwell, New Jersey, to install a one megawatt (MW) back-up generator at Ricoh’s United States headquarters facility in West Caldwell.  This facility also houses Ricoh’s Data Center, which is critical to the company’s operations world-wide.  The back-up generator will be connected to an automatic transfer switch which will provide Ricoh with an almost seamless transition to back-up power in the event the facility loses power from the grid.  The system has been designed to allow essential areas of the facility to operate completely, including the heating and air conditioning systems, so Ricoh no longer has to send employees home for the day, or interrupt overseas teleconference meetings, due to power outages. 

Over the past several years, Ricoh has experienced numerous power outages at their headquarters building for a variety of reasons.  Many of those outages of been for extended periods of time, resulting in millions of dollars of lost business to Ricoh.  “After the last power outage, which was the result of failed utility equipment, and the prior history of power outages at our facility, we knew we had to come up with a plan to protect us.  We worked with Metro Energy to design a new UPS (uninterruptible power system) for our Data Center last year, and as part of that project we looked at combining a back-up generator to protect other areas of our building,” commented Joe Vallorosi, Ricoh’s vice president of Information Technology.  “This project was the result of numerous departments at Ricoh working together with our engineers to create the optimal design for Ricoh’s needs,” stated Robert Ragozine, chief operating officer of Metro Energy Solutions. 

 The project is anticipated to be on-line by the end of 2004.