After four blackouts shut down campus during the first month of classes, Northwestern administrators will meet today with Commonwealth Edison officials to discuss reliability concerns on the Evanston Campus.
The last of the four blackouts that darkened South Campus knocked out power in 17 buildings for about two hours on Oct. 22, closing dining halls and disrupting faculty research.
ComEd spokesman Michael Radziewicz said the power company solved the blackout problem by replacing a faulty switch gear near campus the next day.
But NU Vice President for Facilities Management Ronald Nayler said he wants to make sure no more blackouts occur. He said he also wants to coordinate with ComEd on what NU needs for its four on-campus building projects.
“We need to make sure the construction is a smooth process,” he said.
Radziewicz said ComEd has substantially improved its overall reliability in Evanston in recent years, decreasing both the number of outages and the duration of each outage.
He said the company has shored up many system-wide problems and can now focus on problems with individual feeders, such as the one causing the campus power outages.
Nayler said NU eventually would consider investing in cogeneration plants to provide the university with its own power. NU already is in the design stages on the creation of a cogeneration plant on the Chicago Campus, although Nayler couldn’t specify a timetable for the plant to be operational.
Administrators currently have no plans for a cogeneration plant on the Evanston Campus because its contract with ComEd extends four more years. But when the contract runs out, “it certainly makes sense to pursue a cogeneration facility,” Nayler said.
Radziewicz said ComEd changed its policy on cogeneration plants three years ago and now encourages large clients to develop their own plants so there is less stress on power sources.
ComEd’s former policy against cogeneration plants existed when it a regulated monopoly that provided power and lines to transmit power. The power company was trying to protect business, Radziewicz said, as any cogeneration plant would take away from power ComEd provided.
But three years ago, ComEd was deregulated and became part of Exelon Company. Now ComEd only transmits power, so it is less protective of where clients get their power from, Radziewicz said.
ComEd encourages large clients to create their own power sources to avoid situations similar to the one in California during the summer, where power outages were so rampant that brownouts were scheduled.
“With deregulation, the most important aspect of our business is that we provide reliable service,” Radziewicz said.
Radziewicz said ComEd even pays some clients who have cogeneration plants to use them instead of ComEd lines during peak periods to keep the company from overloading its circuits.
“We pay the customers and provide reliable service,” Radziewicz said. “It’s a win-win situation.”
