NOTE: The following message was sent to Knight Campus Staff on Aug. 24, 2023:
In preparation for the September 6th quarterly controlled testing of UO’s power outage response called “Island Mode Testing” between 8am and 1pm, we are recommending the Knight Campus Community follow the guidance below. We have been working actively with our central partners to alert them to our concerns after each of these quarterly tests and we have been able to get to a number of resolutions – however, there are still challenges and there may be some new issues that arise so please take a moment to review both our recommendations and the notice from central below.
Research Operations/Instructional laboratories - Please also be aware there is the potential for sags during the period and possibly lingering impacts so you may want to plan for a bit past 1pm if you have particularly sensitive equipment.
· Critical equipment – all critical equipment should be powered down or placed in a safe state
· Fume Hoods – all toxic or hazardous reactions/off-gassing should be paused
· Biological Safety Cabinets – any BSL work in biosafety cabinets should be paused
· Surgery Suite – any planned surgeries are recommended to be paused during these times.
· -80s – limit door opening and closing during these times (same for all chilling devices)
IT/Email/Conference Rooms – Once testing is complete, it may take some time for IT to power up the below devices. Meetings that start at 1pm that rely on Crestron products or are based online could have some delays.
· Wifi/Wired Network/Access to shared drives, etc. – There is the potential to lose connectivity during these times. Carrying out sensitive data connections/transfers during these times is an at-risk action.
· Zoom/Teams – As above, there is the potential to lose connectivity during these times. Use your best judgment on carrying out sensitive meetings during these times
· Conference Rooms – Crestron conferencing equipment will be powered down
· Printers – All printers will be placed offline during these times.
Facilities Infrastructure – Please be aware of these actions as you plan your day.
· Door Access – There is potential we may lose access periodically during these times. Please be prepared to use alternate routes and plan accordingly.
· Elevators – It is recommended to take stairs during these times if at all possible.
· Supply/Exhaust Air – We will periodically and repeatedly lose supply and exhaust air during testing. This means your fume hoods will alarm periodically. Systems will restart after about 30 seconds. Please be prepared to react and silence alarms as necessary.
· RO Water - We will periodically and repeatedly lose supply pumps which will result in RO water supply at your spigots. Please plan accordingly.
· Autoclaves/Glass Washers – We will be powering down this equipment for the duration of the testing below. It may take some time for Facilities to power things back up to reach operating temps.
We will do our best to answer questions you have - you can reach out to Greg gregn@uoregon.edu or Moira Kiltie kiltie@uoregon.edu. Thanks for your planning and patience during this testing period.
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REMINDER:
In two weeks, we will be testing our electrical system by shifting off EWEB’s electrical grid and onto our own power generation system (called Island Mode). This test will occur at five different times between 8:00 am and 1:00 pm on Wednesday, September 6, 2023 (see schedule below).
Please share with building occupants
CPFM Utilities and Energy will perform Island Mode testing on Wednesday, September 6, 2023, between the hours of 8:00 am and 1:00 pm. Utilities and Energy staff will switch the entire campus in and out of Island Mode five times during this process (see schedule below). Each test will begin at the top of the hour, shifting off of EWEB’s electrical grid and onto our own power generation system (called Island Mode). At 25-minutes after the hour, we will exit out of Island Mode and return back to EWEB’s power source. As a result, short duration power outages may occur at any time throughout the testing period. The electrical distribution system redundancy and resiliencies depend upon the properly functioning power generation system and island mode capabilities.
Thank you for your patience as we resolve our issues related to exiting island mode with our emergency equipment. On-site personnel will include the original electrical engineer that designed the system, ASCO technicians and a new company that brings more resiliency and oversight for Utilities and Energy.
- 8:00 am – 8:05 am Execute 1st island mode test.
- 8:25 am – 8:30 am Exit island mode.
- 9:00 am – 9:05 am Execute 2nd island mode test.
- 9:25 am – 9:30 am Exit island mode.
- 10:00 am – 10:05 am Execute 3rd island mode test.
- 10:25 am – 10:30am Exit island mode.
- 11:00 am – 11:05 am Execute 4th island mode test.
- 11:25 am – 11:30 am Exit island mode.
- 12:00 noon – 12:05 pm Execute 5th island mode test.
- 12:25 pm – 12:30 pm Exit island mode.
- 12:30 pm - 1:00 pm Monitor campus electrical systems, insure systems normal and all testing complete.
- 1:00 pm Testing complete and an all clear message sent from Work Control Center.
Special Instructions: Please shut down and unplug all multi-function copier devices as well as any printers during scheduled power outages. The software on these machines can be negatively affected due to the power surge when the power is turned back on. A power surge can corrupt the clone files in the machines and change preconfigured settings. For questions, please contact Kati Kronholm at 541-346-5370 or katik@uoregon.edu. For non-copier questions, please reach out to Work Control Center as listed below.
Work Performed By: CPFM Utilities & Energy
Contact: Work Control Center, Campus Planning and Facilities Management, 541-346-2319