WHILE A UPS WITH ADVANCED FEATURES MAY COME AT A HIGHER INITIAL PRICE, THE LONG-TERM SAVINGS CAN OUTWEIGH THIS UPFRONT COST.
F E A T U R E
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WHILE A UPS WITH ADVANCED FEATURES MAY COME AT A HIGHER INITIAL PRICE, THE LONG-TERM SAVINGS CAN OUTWEIGH THIS UPFRONT COST.
lifetime. This includes energy consumption, maintenance, repairs, battery replacement and even costs associated with outages and future upgrades.
However, the OpEx of a UPS can, over 10 to 15 years, often far exceed its CapEx. Therefore, making informed investment decisions requires a deeper understanding of how the system will perform over its entire life cycle.
Energy efficiency: A percentage that pays off
One significant contributor to OpEx is energy usage. Even a slight difference in efficiency can lead to substantial savings – or costs – over time. For instance, a 1MW UPS operating at 98 % efficiency loses about 1.5 million kilowatt-hours( kWh)
10 years, while a similar system at 97 % efficiency loses over 2.7 million kWh.
That 1 % efficiency gap could cost nearly € 250,000 more in energy bills while also releasing over 700 additional tons of CO₂ – the equivalent of planting nearly 39,000 urban trees. This calculation does not account for the increased cooling costs arising from the additional heat generated by less efficient systems.
Advanced next-generation semiconductor technologies like Silicon Carbide( SiC) are helping transform the UPS landscape, delivering energy efficiencies above 98 % and enabling data centres to significantly reduce both costs and their carbon footprints.
Downtime: The cost you can’ t see – until it’ s too late
While energy efficiency is quantifiable, the cost of downtime is often harder to predict and potentially more damaging. According to Uptime Institute’ s Annual Outage Analysis 2025, 54 % of respondents reported their most recent significant data centre outage incident cost US $ 100,000 or more, with 20 % saying it cost more than US $ 1 million. Forbes further reported that in 2024, the cost of downtime for large organisations soared to a staggering average of US $ 9,000 per minute.
To mitigate this risk, selecting high-availability UPS systems is essential. Modular architectures with hot-swappable components can drastically reduce repair time. Additionally, features like predictive diagnostics and remote monitoring allow issues to be detected and resolved before failure occurs. Together, these capabilities can increase system availability to‘ six nines’( 99.9999 %), meaning almost zero downtime over the UPS’ s life cycle.
When downtime occurs, rapid repair is critical. A UPS with a modular design typically has a much shorter Mean Time to Repair( MTTR) when compared to monolithic systems. Even if monolithic UPSs have a higher Mean Time Between Failures( MTBF), it’ s often slower to repair. Over time, that can result in significantly longer – and more expensive – outages.
Maintenance and serviceability: Every minute counts
Maintenance is another ongoing cost often overlooked when investing in a UPS and easily escalates without careful planning. UPS systems that are designed for easy access and servicing reduce technician time, disruption and operational risk. Systems designed for front access, compact footprints and remote monitoring simplify maintenance.
Legrand’ s Keor FLEX UPS
A UPS system that’ s equipped with advanced power monitoring, internal diagnostics and real-time data processing capabilities can significantly enhance maintenance planning. By continuously assessing the condition of consumable components, the system enables a predictive maintenance strategy based on actual expected life, reducing unnecessary part replacements and maximising uptime with precision-driven strategies.
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