Campus prepares for brief, planned power outages June 1, 2

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UO Campus Planning and Facilities Management is gearing up for an upcoming utility maintenance and testing project, which will entail short, staggered power outages in most buildings on the UO campus.

The project, originally scheduled to take place during spring break, will now be conducted on the mornings of Monday, June 1, and Tuesday, June 2. The outage schedule is the same as the original project, affecting the same buildings as previously outlined.

Members of the campus community should think about how these outages might affect them or their equipment and work with their supervisors or department heads to take necessary precautions. For some, this may mean powering down equipment in advance of scheduled outages or taking additional steps.

Safety and Risk Services has relaunched its survey to help assess potential impacts on campus operations and for individuals to request planning assistance. The survey can be used to seek assistance in powering down and rebooting equipment on campus, including desktop computers.

The project involves necessary maintenance on several electrical feeder breakers that each power numerous buildings on campus. The project is critical for the continued safe operation of the campus electrical system.

The department also will be testing the university’s ability to independently power its operations with the UO’s Central Power Station. The test will ensure that the power station’s equipment and systems perform as designed. This is needed and overdue preparation for a potential situation where the primary power source for campus is temporarily unavailable.

On Monday, June 1, most buildings on campus will experience rolling power outages lasting approximately 15 minutes, plus building restoration time where crews will ensure systems are successfully coming back on-line.

The outages will occur sequentially, with the first feeder and the buildings it powers being shut off at 8 a.m. Maintenance on the feeder will be completed and the power restored before moving to the next feeder. The subsequent feeders will be shut off and powered back up on a schedule of one per hour until noon.   

A detailed schedule and map of buildings affected is available online.

At 8 a.m. Tuesday, June 2, the entire campus will shift from the primary EWEB power source to the backup generator system at the Central Power Station. This will test the station’s capabilities in providing power to vital university operations should the area experience a major power outage.

All power to campus will shut off for up to five minutes while the station powers up. Campus will be on generator power for no more than 15 minutes. During the testing, however, electrical power to campus may be lost if a portion of the system does not perform as expected.

The university does not expect major disruptions to its wired or wireless network on campus or its core IT services such as email, Canvas, Zoom, DuckWeb, Banner or Office 365 during either day.

It is anticipated that UO on-campus operations will still be suspended at the time of power project. That means building access is limited, 24 hours a day, to those with card or key access. Many interior spaces, such as classrooms, are locked and can be opened only by custodial staff or UOPD.

Before coming to campus to prepare for the outages, UO employees are expected to submit their plans via the appropriate online form:

For issues with building access, call UOPD at 541-346-2919, ext. 2.

Updates about the project will be available on Around the O and posted on the June Power Outage page. For additional questions about the outage, contact Campus Planning and Facilities Management Work Control at workcontrolcenter@uoregon.edu or 541-346-2319.