PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoff

September 23, 2020

 Vice Chancellor, Administration

Dear Campus Community, 

It is highly likely that Pacific Gas and Electric will implement Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) during the next few months. During a PSPS, PG&E will shut off power to portions of its electrical infrastructure both to protect the infrastructure from a fire and to prevent it from causing a fire. The location and extent of the PSPS will be determined by the weather, the likelihood of a fire starting in a given area, and the risk to surrounding communities.  

It’s not possible to predict when or how often the campus will be affected but it’s reasonable to assume that a PSPS will occur in the next few months, possibly more than once. 

Campus PSPS Response Plan
The campus relies first on the power supplied by its cogeneration plant. Additional power is drawn from PG&E during normal operations. The plant supplies enough power to keep building systems functional to protect critical research, computing clusters and collections. It does not provide enough power for any other activities to occur. 

During the PSPS, the campus must isolate itself from the rest of the power grid. This process is called islanding. It is impossible to island the campus if it is not within the capacity of the plant. The plant will shutdown if it is asked to provide more power than it can produce. This is similar to tripping a breaker in your house if you plug too many things into the same outlet. If campus exceeds the capacity of the cogeneration plant during a PSPS, we will be without either PG&E or cogeneration power. The campus will go dark, leaving key functions such as  research at risk. 

That’s why, during a PSPS, the campus’ operations must be significantly reduced. To avoid overloading the plant, we will ask our on-campus employees to vacate buildings in advance of any PSPS that is scheduled to occur in our area. If this year’s PSPS scenario is similar to 2019, PG&E will provide advance notice for the campus to decrease power use at the end of a normal day’s operations and then stay at reduced levels for the duration of the event. In this situation, all campus occupants will need to turn off any non-critical equipment, lights, and computers in their work area as they leave, and remain away from the campus until given permission to return after power is restored.   

If PG&E is unable to give sufficient advance warning of a PSPS, the campus will be forced to try to island at short notice. In this event, it will be essential that the campus drastically and quickly reduce electrical demand to get within the plant’s capacity. If given notice of an imminent PSPS, the campus will send out an alert asking people to immediately turn off as much equipment as they can and leave campus.  

Campus operations during a PSPS
After the campus power usage is reduced, Facilities Services will curtail building systems to further reduce the load on the cogeneration plant. The order and extent of the curtailment will be communicated to building managers in advance.  

During the PSPS, access to campus buildings will still be allowed for support of critical research. Please be in touch with the Vice Chancellor for Research office to determine if your research is in this category.

If the campus is unable to island, most campus buildings will be without power. Those that have backup generators will switch to generator power when PG&E and cogeneration plant power is shut off. In most cases, the generators have limited capacity so building activities will be affected and should be significantly curtailed. It is important to note for safety reasons departments are not allowed to rent generators and connect to the electrical grid.

While the campus is islanded to the cogeneration plant, exterior lighting will remain on as usual. If the campus is unable to island, exterior lighting will not be illuminated. 

Housing
Foothill, Units 1, 2, 3, and Martinez Commons are powered by the cogeneration plant so they will follow the campus’ operations. If the campus is able to island to the plant’s power, these locations will remain with power throughout the PSPS. It is important that occupants in these residences conserve power during the shutdown so the campus remains within the capacity of the plant.  

If the campus is unable to island, these facilities will run off generators which provide only limited power. Other residential  facilities, such as Clark Kerr, and some of the free-standing buildings are not powered by the cogeneration plant. Housing and Dining will communicate with occupants about how the UC-owned residence halls, apartments and dining will function in the event they are powered by basic generators or inverter systems. Additionally, Blackwell and master-leased housing are managed by the individual property owners and not part of the campus grid or UC purview for emergency backup systems.

Tang Center
The Tang Center is not served by the campus’ cogeneration plant so it will be affected by a PSPS regardless of whether the campus is able to island. The Tang Center has a generator which can power essential services, including the refrigeration of medicine and medical device charging if needed. 

Charging stations
PG&E will offer charging stations to the public, including campus occupants, at the Clark Kerr parking lot. 

How to prepare:

  • If you are a researcher, manage experiments and work with the expectation of disruption throughout the fall, especially during red flag events.
  • Back up systems and data often.
  • Plan for how you would stop your activities with little notice. 
  • Coordinate any needed access with your facility manager in advance of a PSPS.
  • Work with your facility manager to plan for protection of research and collections if the campus turns out to be unable to island. 
  • Adapt your work structure to remote work, if possible.
  • Support those you work with as they may also be impacted by a PSPS.

Sincerely,

Marc Fisher
Vice Chancellor, Administration

Sally McGarrahan
Associate Vice Chancellor, Facilities Services

Alicia D. Johnson
Director, Office of Emergency Management

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