No power outages this winter, officials say

In the fall of 2008, the university experienced its second extended power outage in recent years due to a destructive ice storm that left most regions of the state without electricity for days.
But for students wondering if an outage could happen again this year, UNH’s Cogeneration Plant has one answer: don’t count on it.
The on-campus cogeneration plant, which supplies both power and heat to all of campus, is prepared for the winter and any madness that New England weather may have planned in the coming months.
“We have so many sources of energy, so many ways to heat and power the campus, that we have so many different options,” said Jim Dombrosk, director of Energy and Utilities at the university.
The plant uses three different fuel sources to provide power to the campus: natural gas, provided locally by Unitil Corporation; “number two” fuel, a well-refined oil-based fuel; and landfill gas, provided by a pipeline that brings the gas from a Waste Management facility in Rochester. The reason for the different fuels all comes down to contingency.
“If there was ever a problem with one of the fuel sources, we could switch to one of the other fuels,” said Dombrosk, adding that landfill gas support was recently added by a newly installed second turbine. “We put a lot of effort into using the different fuels. If the Public Service [of New Hampshire] went down, we can still run most of the campus with the cogeneration plant.”
While the university has power, a recently added turbine uses the landfill gas to generate additional electricity, which is sold to the local power grid, and generate heat for the rest of the campus. Meanwhile, the heat discharged by this creation of energy is used to heat the campus. In the event that the university loses power, however, an entirely different plan kicks in.
According to Dombrosk, the process involves a “black start” that relies on one of the fuel types. During this time, power would be restored to all residency halls throughout campus. Then, extra current would be supplied to dining halls, and then the Memorial Union Building, and lastly Holloway Commons. Once these focal points on campus are powered and heated, research halls then come next.
“We have so many [fuel] options, that hopefully one of those options will be available without power being out for very long,” Dombrosk said. “All we need is one source.”
Once all of the locations outlined above are online, the university then performs a series of “rolling blackouts” throughout the remaining buildings on campus. Through this, the university provides power and heat to specific buildings not already receiving power and heat, so that the buildings do not freeze and interior pipes do not burst.
“Four hours is the longest any place would be out,” Dombrosk said. “While we are doing that, we would be keeping power to the main areas of campus.”
Additionally, the university’s on-campus heating plant, visible from almost anywhere given its massive chimney, would use one if its two fuel sources to heat the campus in the event that the Cogen plant could not operate.
This entire process all depends on the capacity of the cogeneration plant to perform a black start, however. In December of 2008, as an ice storm crippled the region, such action was not available, which left the entire university without power for a number of hours. Power was ultimately restored once Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH) brought power distribution lines back into commission.
“At the time of the ice storm, the cogen turbine had a problem that prevented it from doing a black start,” Dombrosk said. “We were unable to restart the power until PSNH power came back on. The turbine manufacturer has since repaired that problem.”
A second blackout occurred recently, when a high-voltage switch gear exploded during routine equipment testing. The switch, which had never been used before, was faulty from the beginning.
“Think of it like a light switch,” Dombrosk said. “The first time they operated it, it shorted out and sparked.”
In this instance, with a problem occurring within the campus power grid, the three-hour blackout that followed was unavoidable.
But beyond the power outage last fall and the more recent switch issue, however, there has only been one other extensive power outage at UNH in somewhat recent memory. Ron Tasker, recently retired project manager and campus electrical inspector, worked to restore power during a blackout long before the cogeneration plant even existed.
“The first incident I was involved with was a direct lightning strike on substation number one several years ago, prior to having a campus energy department,” Tasker said. “The total UNH outage was approximately six to seven hours. This outage took place several years ago, prior to even considering cogeneration.”
So, for the coming winter, the university is prepared. But even with an on-campus power plant that comes to life in the absence of power and a fast working utility company, blackouts are still possible.
“It is not unusual to have severe weather conditions in New Hampshire,” Tasker said. “And you always have the potential for equipment failure.”
 

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