Mike Perez, vice president for administrative services, presented the budget to request funding from the Utah State Legislature for campus infrastructure at the Board of Trustees meeting on June 9.
Campus infrastructure, which includes all power, electrical and heating operations and maintenance at the U, experienced multiple failures last year because older systems need to be replaced, said Cory Higgins, director of Plant Operations.
“We’ve had eight outages in the last 12 months, and if the trends we’re seeing keep going, these outages are going to get longer,” he said.
The proposed state projects budget for the 2010 fiscal year shows an estimated $112 million for electrical systems and $20 million for high temperature water.
The problems result from out-of-date systems that were installed in the 1970s. High-temperature water pipes, which are buried underground, are breaking down and require replacing.
Higgins said that the U is currently looking at what would need to be done to fix campus infrastructure problems and what funds are needed.
“The funding we request would be considered during the next legislative session in spring,” Higgins said.
A new co-generation system was recently installed to heat water more efficiently, but the pipes transferring heated water need work done on them.
“Steel buried in ground only lasts 20 to 30 years,” Higgins said.
Eric Browning, a planner for Facilities Management, said that they had previously looked at the idea of putting utilities in a utility tunnel. “It would make them easier to get to.”
Higgins said the tunnels would be expensive to implement.
The U also requires electrical upgrades.
The electrical distribution system was built more than 40 years ago and has expanded as the U added more buildings and upgraded.
“The main feed that usually serves five to 10 buildings is now serving about 20 buildings,” Higgins said.
If a feeder line that controls power and operations for 20 buildings fails, those buildings could go without power for more than 10 hours.
“Outages in the past year resulted in more than 400 hours of down time, which equals to a total 16 days last year where some part of campus was without power,” Higgins said.
Perez’s presentation to the Board of Trustees included an updated version of the campus master plan as well as a budget for campus infrastructure.
The master plan was approved by the Board.