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Power outage affecting East Lansing and MSU

Staff Reports
April 7, 2016
Workers investigate a manhole following a recent power outage on April 7, 2016 at Red Cedar Road.
Workers investigate a manhole following a recent power outage on April 7, 2016 at Red Cedar Road. —
Photo by Nic Antaya | and Nic Antaya The State News

Updated 2:47 p.m.

At 2:30 p.m. Bob Ellerhorst, the director of utilities for MSU Infrastructure Planning and Facilities , held a press conference to discuss the power outage earlier this morning and the current status of the plant.

The plant's campus distribution circuits, which carries energy from the power plant to campus buildings, were knocked out because of a cable fault. 

"We actually had about half of our equipment knocked off between about 10:09 (a.m.) and 10:11(a.m.)," Ellerhorst said. "About 40 buildings were affected on campus and (at) about 11:35 (a.m.) our last services were restored."

The plant suffered no permanent damage and there were no injuries reported from the fault.

The exact cause of the cable fault is still being determined, though Ellerhorst did confirm the sulfuric acid spill on Tuesday had no part to play in the plant's issues today.

"We know there was smoke reported in the neighborhood of the College of Engineering, a manhole with smoke," Ellerhorst said. "The best we can guess at this point is that an electric cable failed at some place."


Updated 12:05 p.m.

All power has been restored to MSU's campus, MSU spokesperson Jason Cody said. Classes, unless otherwise cancelled by professors, will continue as scheduled. Dining halls are all open, although some might have limited menus, according to MSU's website. 

Cody said a problem at the power plant limited its ability to power all of campus. As a result, systematic load shedding – or intentionally taking buildings off the power grid – was done to isolate the problem.

Roughly 25 to 30 percent of campus buildings were taken down at one point or another during the two hours of maintenance.

Updated 11:50 a.m. 

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Spokesman Jason Cody confirmed that several buildings on north campus were affected by the power outage, such as Berkey Hall, and that he would continue posting updates as more information came in.

Other buildings affected include Case Hall and the entirety of east neighborhood at one point, according to facilities supervisor Trevor Wicks.

Among completely dark or dimly lit hallways, students could be overheard asking questions about possible cancelled classes or how they'll get food since some cafeterias were forced to close down due to the outage.

"We don't know if we're gonna have class or not, we can't use our laptops for anything," Jacquelline Labute, an advertising senior, said.

Rohit Sen, a computer science freshman, faced several difficulties in going about his daily routine.

"I couldn't get into Wilson Hall because the scanner wouldn't work and my card won't let me access it," Sen said. "I tried to go to the gym too and everything was dark."

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Justin Newman, same year and major as Rohit, was also negatively impacted from the power outages.

"I went to my 8:00 a.m. and shortly after I got back to my dorm the power went out," Newman said. "I tried to come (to South Case Hall) to get food and couldn't even get into the cafeteria."

Both Sen and Newman were biding their time until they heard from their professors regarding whether class would continue or not.

"My schoolwork is impacted, I have stuff due that's straight on D2L, (Desire 2 Learn) so I can't do that," Lauren Kubiski, a business preference freshman, said.

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Updated 11:30 a.m.

MSU spokesperson Jason Cody said MSU is looking into the issue, although it is still unclear how the power outage happened.

Although rumors suggested there was a fire at the MSU Power Plant, this does not seem to be the case.

MSU police are reporting a power outage affecting campus Thursday morning, according to an MSU Alert.

For the third day in a row, MSU has had to respond to an infrastructure issue. On Tuesday, a faulty pipe caused 800 gallons of sulfuric acid to spill out of the MSU Power Plant. On Wednesday a fire was contained to the MSU Surplus Store.

Neither MSU police, Infrastructure Planning and Facilities or MSU spokesperson Jason Cody were available for comment Thursday morning.

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