UW Tacoma implements plan to restore power as it enters week two of outage

As the University of Washington Tacoma enters week two of a campus-wide outage that has affected the school and surrounding businesses, the university is implementing a three-phase plan to restore power.

The three phase plan begins with the university sourcing generators to temporarily restore power until they lease a power switch. The university’s ultimate goal is to complete a design for a permanent solution. The entire plan will be completed in around a year, according to university Chancellor Sheila Edwards Lange in an email to the campus community.

The university currently does not have a good assessment of the costs, as many of the costs are still emerging for the three phase plan, a UWT spokesman told The News Tribune.

The outage began July 6 when a vehicle suspected to have been speeding crashed in the Cragle parking lot on South 21st Street. The single-vehicle crash left one person dead. A high-voltage switch gear that electrifies most of the urban campus was destroyed, The News Tribune reported .

Over a dozen small businesses along Pacific Avenue and and most of the buildings at University of Washington Tacoma were without power. More than half of the affected businesses are restaurants, which bore the additional brunt of below-temp refrigerators and freezers as a result from the power outage.

In-person classes and operations were suspended and the university plans to reopen on Monday as they begin their three phase plan to restore power, the email said.

Phase one

Two generators to restore power to the entire campus will be set up this week.

“Sourcing the generators and ensuring this short-term solution could be implemented safely required careful planning and risk assessment by professionals to ensure our people and facilities are safe throughout,” Lange said.

Once the generators arrive in the next two days, the university will finalize the operational sequence of restoring power. Each building will be brought online individually and safely to ensure systems and technology are not damaged after the generators are set up, the email said.

The generators will be situated outside the Mattress Factory on 1953 South Court Street. The outside air intake will be shut off and noise levels will be monitored.

The buildings will have cooling systems that require time to bring the buildings back down to a safe temperature before students and staff return, the email said. Some science and other facilities with specialized equipment might require a longer to reopen. The university will be share information separately with those impacted.

Phase two

In the next few weeks, the campus will be reconnected to the main power source.

The university is leasing switch gear that will replace the gear destroyed in the crash. That will allow it to reconnect to the main power source as a temporary measure until Phase 3 can be implemented in about a year’s time, the email said.

Phase 3

The university will complete design and construction of a new permanent solution.

“A reliable source of power is critical to the safety and security of our campus community. Knowing that 21st Street is already problematic, we will continue working with agencies and contractors to redesign and rebuild this critical power access point that meets our needs. We anticipate phase 3 finishing in approximately 18 months,” the email said.

The university will continue with suspended in-person operations until Saturday as they plan to reopen for Monday.

“I am grateful to our partners at Tacoma Public Utilities for providing consultation and support to craft and implement these solutions following the devastating blow to our campus infrastructure,” Lange said. “Also, we owe thanks to Tacoma Community College and Pierce College, which have both provided resources, space, and more to support continuity of operations. Colleagues from UW central offices, such as Campus Community Safety and UW Facilities, have been invaluable.”