UC Davis is girding for rolling blackouts of the central campus this summer, as Pacific Gas & Electric Co. expands the number of customers that will be asked to curtail energy use during power emergencies.

Late last week, PG&E formally notified UC Davis that effective Thursday, May 3, the core campus will be required to participate in mandatory rotating power reductions.

This means that on hot days of peak energy usage, the campus will join other rotating blocks of utility customers in facing periodic outages ranging from two hours to four or more hours, depending on the weather conditions and the level of power available to California.

"Anticipating a blackout situation, our highest priority will be human health and safety, animal health and safety, and the protection of research," said Janet Hamilton, vice chancellor for administration. "Staff are hard at work now assessing our vulnerabilities and determining the most efficient use of our on-campus power resources to assist the campus through this power emergency."

Emergency generators will help

During a blackout, critical services on the main campus would be operated by emergency generators and power provided by the campus's own co-generation plant.

UC Davis is seeking a blackout exemption from PG&E in order to protect safety, critical services and research. However, the campus is continuing planning for several scenarios in which off-site power would be lost throughout the entire core campus for a brief period, or, in a worst-case scenario, for an extended period of time.

"With the volatility of the energy market, we believe it is most prudent for the campus to fully prepare for rolling blackouts to occur," said Jill Blackwelder, associate vice chancellor for facilities. "We will deploy all of the resources we have available to power the most vital areas during an outage. Should the need arise, our planning will enable us to further assist the state in meeting the challenges of this power crisis."

A thorough building-by-building assessment is now being conducted by the Facilities Services Department to determine how the campus will accomplish its mandated power reductions while protecting critical services and research, according to Julie McNeal, acting facilities director.

The survey will identify the campus's most crucial energy needs, and evaluate the campus's own backup electricity generating capacity in the event of a total Loss of Offsite Power (LOOP). A LOOP preparedness plan will be created for each campus facility. Facilities staff also plan to test this readiness, in collaboration with building residents, by actually shutting down power to a building to be certain that switches, lighting, generators and other functions work correctly.

"We will be configuring our on-campus power resources for maximum coverage of the campus," McNeal said. Most buildings on campus are equipped with generators that would provide at least a percentage of backup power during an outage.

Preparedness includes notification procedures

In addition to the physical preparations, the campus is developing procedures for prompt notification of students and faculty and staff members in the event of a potential power outage. The campus protocol for handling such blackouts will be similar to the systems put in place by the Emergency Preparedness Policy Group to respond to potential Y2K problems.

In the event of a blackout, the campus would follow already established emergency notification protocol. It is also hoped that there would be time to issue a series of e-mail, voice mail and blast faxes to alert the campus community in advance.

It is unclear, however, how much warning the campus might have in advance of a power outage, Blackwelder said. Facilities staff are optimistic that the campus would have adequate warning of an outage, because it will likely be in a numbered block - similar to the same block rotation system that went into effect earlier in the winter. This knowledge, as well as weather circumstances and information about which blocks are next in the rotation could provide sufficient notice.

Emergency planners are asking all campus departments and organizations to take immediate steps to begin getting ready for a loss of power.

"We need all departments to review their emergency preparedness plans and departmental communications plans. We also recommend that they revise these plans with attention paid to responding to a rolling blackout before, during and after a loss of power," said Ev Profita, who directs the emergency preparedness group.

It is most likely that a loss of power will occur between the peak-use hours of 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., according to Charles Kennedy, assistant facilities director responsible for campus energy. It is unknown how many outages the campus might experience over the course of the warm-weather months from May through October.

Core of campus previously exempt

Some outlying portions of the campus already experienced blackouts last winter, but the core of UC Davis did not take part in rolling blackouts, because the central campus is a so-called "transmission" customer and was exempt. The core campus receives its power directly from a substation south of Interstate 80, and the power must be manually turned off by the campus.

In late March, the California Public Utilities Commission granted PG&E and the Independent System Operator permission to require that transmission customers also share in the blackouts. PG&E is redrawing some of its power blocks so that a larger percentage of utility customers will share in the rotating blackouts. This means that when the state needs to resort to blackouts, there will be more blocks in the rotation and all customers should experience fewer outage episodes, Kennedy said.

PG&E has set up a process by which energy customers can seek exemptions to power outages, but the criteria for such an exemption are likely to be very high. Currently, only large hospitals and emergency services - such as police and fire departments - are exempt.

number of campus units are evaluating policies and procedures related to an outage. Human Resources will provide information to supervisors and managers for overseeing employees and work assignments during an outage. Officials are still discussing some issues with campus labor unions, but it appears that in most cases employees will be asked to remain on campus and at work during an outage, said employee and labor relations director Mike Sheesley.

Campus telephones will be working during a blackout, but computers will be down. It will be important for employees to be cautious in using elevators if a blackout is anticipated. And employees are asked to look out for colleagues who might need additional assistance.

A campus-wide energy forum is being planned for later in May to address concerns and answer questions. In addition, more information will be provided through a "UC Davis Unplugged" campaign, including a Web site and an e-mail listserv to help answer questions.

"We know that this situation will be disruptive and difficult for many of us, but we are confident that we will be able to manage the situation to create the least disruption to the campus," Blackwelder said.