In response to complications arising from California’s energy crisis, Tuesday classes in some on-campus buildings will be canceled due to a critical power supply shortage.
Facing difficulties from multiple angles — campus power supplier Enron Corporation, California’s own waning power supply and the UCSD cogeneration plant, still under construction — UCSD will become subject starting Monday at midnight to the rolling blackouts that have plagued San Diego County for two weeks.
Unreliable power supply forced UCSD Physical Plant Services and the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Resource Management and Planning to issue a joint statement Friday, indicating that power would be cut to major campus facilities on Tuesday between 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.
The mandate affects classes in Warren Lecture Hall, the Humanities and Social Sciences Building, McGill Hall and all classes in Center Hall. Students who have not been contacted by their professors about Tuesday’s schedule should e-mail or call campus departments for details and rescheduling.
In the last month, the California Energy Commission has issued seven Stage 3 power alerts, three of which were on consecutive days. Stage 3 is the most serious of the alert levels, indicating that only 1 percent of power reserves remain.
University of California campuses, under contract with Enron Corp., are supposed to receive a supply of power unaffected by the California energy crisis. However, disputes with Enron have caused the company to revoke its contract with the university, pending a lawsuit filed by the university three weeks ago. The termination of the contract affects all nine UC campuses, including UCSD.
Without its uninterrupted supply from Enron, UCSD must rely on the California market for its power, subjecting it to the turbulence caused by Stage 3 alerts.
Catherine Navarro, spokeswoman for PPS, said that the timing of the Enron contract dispute is bad for UCSD in several ways.
“”It’s enough that California is having its own energy problems,”” she said. “”But UCSD happens to be in a tight spot as well at the moment, since the cogeneration plant isn’t finished.””
She said that while the construction of the campus cogeneration plant, which will reliably supply UCSD with its own power, is well on its way to being completed, the plant will not be functional until May.
PPS and its administrative contact, the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Resource Management and Planning, looked for a solution less drastic than the cancellation of classes. However, it was impossible to buy power from the already-drained California utilities, and the campus budget does not provide enough to subsidize the cost of buying power from other states.
After receiving approval from the Office of the Chancellor, PPS made the decision to self-impose blackouts in the busiest parts of campus on Tuesday, when the state enters another Stage 3 alert.
Navarro said that PPS has explored alternative power sources in its attempt to keep the rest of the campus powered through Tuesday night.
The Price Center fountain will provide enough power to illuminate the Price Center and Student Health Services by means of a small hydroelectric generator located underneath the grass around the fountain. The Revelle Plaza fountain, however, works against the force of gravity, so it cannot be exploited in the same way.
Navarro called upon UCSD’s substantial biology and medical research faculty to assist in a unique way: by the donation of their laboratory rodents.
“”If we can get enough lab rats and hamsters by Monday night, we can cage them all up in a bunch of hamster wheels we’ve got lined up at PPS,”” she said. “”We’ve hooked up these wheels to a generator, and the amount of power that could be produced by all the animals in captivity at UCSD would be enough to get at least H&SS started again.””
Interested faculty can contact PPS for more information at (858) 534-3250.
