From: John MacMillan, Vice Chancellor for Research
February 12, 2024
Dear Research Community,
The recent storms that have impacted the Santa Cruz area have led the campus electrical shop to identify an issue with a critical component in the residential campus power infrastructure, which could result in the loss of PG&E-supplied power. This is exacerbated by the potential of further rain beginning Wednesday, February 14, with periods of moderate to heavy rain predicted from Friday, February 16, into early next week and strong gusty winds Saturday and Sunday. Given these conditions, we would like to provide advance warning to the research community of the possibility of a planned or unplanned loss of power starting the week of February 11 and possibly continuing into the following week.
There is potential for a scheduled repair, which will require a 6-8 hour loss of PG&E-supplied power, to occur as soon as early this week. We will provide updated information as soon as we have it, and notice of the repair will be provided as far in advance as possible.
We anticipate that COGEN and emergency back-up generators will function throughout any loss of PG&E power to the campus.
This issue will not impact power at Westside Research Park or the Coastal Science Campus.
Information about power outage preparedness can be found here. We also encourage PIs to develop plans around impacts to experiments, sample storage, and equipment for any planned or unexpected power outage events.