Students staying on campus Saturday should plan for a full day without electricity. On Saturday, Feb. 21, most of the campus will not have electricity, including some dorms, apartments, dining halls and McHenry Library. See the full list at the bottom of the article.

The power outage is scheduled to happen from 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Some areas will be powered by backup generators or will not be affected. According to an email sent to students by Lisa Bono from Information Technology Services, CruzNet and eduroam wireless services will be down. The email also said cellphone service on campus will have little to no power. The blue light emergency phones and 911 will be operational.

Although some colleges will have electricity, some students have expressed concern about the effects the outage will have on their dining.

“I don’t think it’s fair,” said first-year sociology major Sonia Fernandez. “What are you going to do with all the food you have in the fridges? There are only two dining halls that are open so it’s going to be overly crowded … Also, we’re paying a lot of money for the school, so why are we not being allowed to get our electricity?”

An email to students from Campus Physical Plant states that the power outage is due to the installment of a cogeneration system on Science Hill. According to the email, the $25 million project will “provide power to critical research equipment and facilities during extended utility outages, and produce heat used by the campus’s central hot water plant.”

A turbine will be housed inside the building, producing electric power that will be distributed to the campus. Since the campus runs on a 12,000-volt distribution system, Physical Planning and Construction campus engineer Steve Paul said campus power needs to be shut down to safely complete the final connections due to the high distribution voltage.

“The cogeneration project is in the final stages of completion,” Paul said. “After the connections are made, there will be several outages that need to be done to make sure power can come back on safely.”

Paul is not sure when the future outages will occur or how many there will be.

Bay Tree Bookstore Executive Director Bob McCampbell said he’s aware there will be several future outages. He said it will affect revenue for the Bay Tree Bookstore and Express Store, but that it is a matter of safety.

“We have to close for the day,” McCampbell said. “We’ll probably have $5,000 to $6,000 lost sales. I’m sure the same holds true as coffee shops on campus.”

To prepare for the outage, McCampbell said frozen food will be moved to portable freezers in a location that has emergency power. McCampbell said Saturday is probably the least impacted time period to have the outage since it will not be affecting classes during the week.

Paul said the engineering team is trying to plan future outages so it will have the least impact on UCSC, but it has taken a lot of effort to inform the campus about the outage.

“We’re going to do our best to minimize the impact, though it has been hard getting the notice out to everyone on campus,” Paul said.

 

Will you be affected? Below is the list of areas to be affected, according to an email from Campus Physical Plant.

The following facilities will be without utility power February 21, 2015:

Graduate Student Housing
Antenna Site
ARC Center
Art Complex
Baskin Engineering
Baskin Visual Arts
Biomedical Sciences
Bay Tree Bookstore
Camper Park
Center for Adaptive Optics
Chadwick Garden
Classroom Units
College Eight Academic, Dining, Commons, Dorms, Apartments
College Nine and Ten Dining
College Nine and Academic, Apartments
College Ten and Academic, Apartments
Communications
Cowell College, Apartments
Cowell Health Center
Crown College and Apartments
Digital Arts Research Center
Earth and Marine Sciences
East Field House
Engineering 2
Fackler Cogeneration Plant
Farm and Agroecology
Fire Station
Hahn Student Services
Housing Services
Humanities
Interdisciplinary Sciences
Kerr Hall
Kresge College
McHenry Library
Merrill College and Apartments
Music Facility
Natural Sciences 2
Natural Science Wood Shop
Oakes College/Apartments
E. Fitness Center
Physical Sciences Building
Porter / Kresge Apartments
Porter College
Quarry Village (Areas A, B, C, D, E, F)
Redwood Grove Apartments
Sinsheimer Labs
Science Library
Stevenson College
Student Center
Theater Arts
Thimann Labs
University House
West Field House

 

Facilities with critical emergency and standby power supplied by generators February 21, 2015.
Bay Tree Bookstore
Biomedical Sciences
Classroom Units
College 10 (Soc Sci 2)
College 8 Admin/Academic
College 8 Apartments
College 8 Dorms A, B, C, D
College 8 Kitchen
College 9 (Soc Sci 1)
College 9 Apartments
College 9/10 Dining Hall
College 9/10 Dorms-Dorms
Communications Building
Core West Parking Structure
Cowell College
Cowell Infill Apartments
Crown/Merrill Colleges
Crown/Merrill Apts – Lower and Upper
Digital Arts Research Center
Earth & Marine Sciences
Engineering 2
Hahn Student Services
Humanities
Kerr Hall
Kresge College
Music Facility
McHenry Library
Oakes College
Physical Science Building
Porter College, Kitchen & Dining
Porter/Kresge Infill Apartments
Stevenson College
Stevenson Infill Apartments
Theatre Arts

 

Facilities that will be unaffected by the utility shutdown February 21, 2015. (Lower Campus, LML and 2300 Delaware)
Long Marine lab
Faculty & Staff Housing
2300 Delaware
Arboretum
Cardiff House Annex
Granary
Cardiff House
Blacksmith Shop
Carriage House
Family Student Housing
Emergency Response Center/Police Station
Water Tank Pump Station
Physical Plant Shop Stores
Hazardous Waste Facility
Barn-H/Receiving/Risk Services
Barn-G
Physical Plant Trailers Near Corp Yard
PP&C Trailers West of Barn-G
Physical Plant Paint, Sign & Bug Shop
Fleet Services
Cook House
Barn Theater
Main Kiosk