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 some buildings on the UO campus.

The project will be conducted throughout the morning on June 15. The work 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 office also will test the university’s ability to self-power with the UO’s Central Power Station to ensure that equipment and systems perform as designed. That is needed preparation for a potential situation where the primary power source for campus is temporarily lost.

The project and its effects resemble similar planned outages that occurred last June with minimal issues. Fewer buildings will be affected by this year’s project.

Members of the campus community should think about how the outages might impact 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.

Individuals who wish to request planning assistance for the outages should contact Campus Planning and Facilities Management Work Control at workcontrolcenter@uoregon.edu or 541-346-2319.

At 7:35 a.m. Tuesday, June 15, 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.

While not anticipated, some buildings may briefly lose power when the switch occurs if a portion of the system does not perform as expected. The university will be powered by the Central Power Station throughout the rest of the morning.

Starting at 8 a.m., around 40 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 online.

The outages will occur sequentially, with the feeders and the buildings they power being shut off at the top of the hour every hour between 8 and 11 a.m. Maintenance on each feeder will be completed and the power restored before moving to the next feeder within around 15 minutes.   

For a detailed schedule and map of buildings affected, visit the June 2021 power outage webpage. Updates about the project will be posted on that page and on Around the O.

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 the outages.

It is anticipated that UO on-campus operations will still largely be remote at the time of the power testing and maintenance project. That means building access is limited, 24 hours a day, to those with card or key access.

For additional questions about the outage, contact Work Control at workcontrolcenter@uoregon.edu or 541-346-2319.