Philip Ellefson |
Power outages Tuesday and Friday caused campus-wide power and WiFi problems. The University is working with Portland General Electric (PGE) to identify the problem and prepare for future outages.
Tuesday’s power outage, which lasted from about 3-4 p.m., resulted from windy conditions and cut off power to all buildings east of Portsmouth. A fallen branch is thought to be the culprit.
According to Michael McNerney, Public Safety’s communication and technology coordinator, the cause of Friday’s power outage is still unclear. It is also unclear whether it was related to Tuesday’s outage.
The outage on Friday affected most of campus east of Portsmouth, but it was especially disruptive in Christie, Kenna and Shipstad Halls.
Junior Jenna Warner, a resident assistant in Shipstad Hall, said she was doing laundry when the power went out in the early afternoon on Friday. But she said the worst part was the loss of Internet.
“The most annoying thing was the WiFi because, you know, we’re all Internet-dependent,” Warner said.
Friday’s problems were much more complex, with many buildings being affected but no buildings losing power completely.
“We had people calling us where their desk phone was working, but their computer power was off,” McNerney said. “So it was really kind of quirky.”
Though PGE could not identify the precise problem behind Friday’s power outage, they found the general area of the problem and installed a temporary bypass system, restoring power by 8 p.m.
Because the issue is unresolved, McNerney said there may be continuing issues.
“At this point, it seems likely that there may be another power outage in the future unless we figure out what the issue is,” he said.
In the meantime, McNerney said Public Safety is working to figure out how they can keep lines of communication and other important services running during future outages.
In an email to the students, Vice President for University Operations Jim Ravelli said Information Services is also planning for future power problems.
“Our main wireless controller is fed by the power supplied by the problem power line and this has taken wireless offline until the power is restored,” he said. “Our IT organization will be addressing additional power redundancy for our wireless as a top priority.”
Philip Ellefson is the news editor for The Beacon. He can be reached at ellefson15@up.edu or on Twitter @philipellefson.
