TO: Campus community
FR: Facilities Management
Last week, the campus lost power on three (3) separate occasions, April 11, 12, and 14, due to a malfunction in one of the two power feeder lines on campus. A feeder line is the transfer point from PGE’s electric grid to the Sonoma State University campus.
On Monday, April 11, the campus lost power in the morning, and Facilities Management was able to reset the power grid and restore power within two hours.
The feeder malfunctioned again on Tuesday, April 12. Facilities Management responded quickly to reduce the load of electricity on the malfunctioning feeder allowing it to be reset, and power was restored within 2 hours of the initial outage.
On Thursday, April 14, the feeder malfunctioned again causing a loss of power to academic and administrative buildings at approximately 8:15 a.m. The campus shifted to remote operations for part of the day giving Facilities Management crews time to investigate and remedy the outage.
Facilities Management crews transferred the remaining buildings to the campus’ secondary power feeder as a temporary solution. The entire campus was powered down in order to allow crews to complete this transfer. Facilities Management crews were able to complete the work and restore power to the campus at approximately 2:30 p.m.
After power was restored to the campus on Thursday afternoon, it was discovered that the portable building where Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is located and Building 17 were still without power. Facilities Management conducted repair work to bring these areas back online overnight and power was shut off to the campus from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. on Friday morning to minimize disruption to the campus community. The repair work took a little longer than planned. Our Facilities Management crews were able to identify the cause of this issue and power was returned to the campus by 7 a.m. Friday morning.
At this time, the power grid is stable and being closely monitored. We do not anticipate any further issues in the immediate future, however, a more permanent repair will need to be made. Facilities Management will coordinate with campus partners to identify a time when this work can be completed with minimal impact to the campus. We will provide ample notification to the campus community of this planned repair work.
For each event, personnel from Facilities Management, Sonoma State University Police Department, and Risk Management responded, ensuring building occupants were safe and that any secondary emergencies due to the loss of power were addressed as appropriate.
We are grateful to the Facilities Management crews, especially our campus electricians. This was a challenging and dynamic event and the response team managed the event swiftly with the paramount goal of ensuring the safety of our campus community.
Should SSU lose power to any buildings or areas on campus, all buildings’ emergency lighting are programmed to activate within 90 seconds of an outage. If power does not return within a building and emergency lighting is out, please calmly exit the building and await further instructions from campus building or safety professionals. If emergency lighting or natural light is sufficient to stay indoors and no other emergency conditions exist, you may stay in the building unless campus professionals notify you otherwise. Individuals who may be unable to safely exit due to the loss of elevators should contact SSUPD at (707) 664-4444 for assistance. It is recommended you follow the directions from your appropriate administrator or campus safety officials, when possible.
For any issues or power-related concerns you discover, please place a Facilities Work Order.