Murray State University plans to be better prepared this winter to prevent another campus-wide power outage that caused hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage last year.
MSU’s contract with the TVA requires the university to power down during times of high demand in return for a price discount.
Last year it happened during the arctic vortex. A generator failed causing a myriad of problems and significant damage to water-filled pipes in buildings.
MSU’s Mike Dunnavant says he has more supplies on hand and workers monthly check the generators.
“You never know when there will be an interruption in power either planned or unplanned. We just don’t know what the winter is going to look like,” he said.
TVA Spokesman Scott Brooks says the weather outlook so far doesn’t show temperatures low enough that would lead to excessive power use and a mandated shutdown at Murray State.
MSU President Bob Davies says communication is key in handling a short-notice power outage if it were to happen again.
“We were notified from my understanding a couple days before the actual notification,” he said. “At that very moment we need to say to the campus community, ‘We may lose power. We may be asked to shut down in five minutes. Let’s get everybody on that same page now.’”
The TVA contract runs out at the end of August 2015. Davies says if the contract isn’t renewed the university will have to budget the $400,000 it saved with that option.