USask more powerful than ever thanks to energy system upgrades, SaskPower collaboration
The University of Saskatchewan (USask) has now completed major upgrades to power infrastructure on campus, ensuring critical services for the university and neighbouring health care facilities are well prepared for future demands.
The new infrastructure—including an upgraded substation—provides a robust, reliable supply of electricity to buildings and activities across campus, including powering the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital, the Royal University Hospital, and the Saskatchewan Cancer Centre, as well as facilities of the National Research Council, Agriculture and Agrifood Canada, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
“Without collaborative relationships like those we have with the provincial government and with SaskPower, our goal of being the university the world needs simply could not be realized,” said USask President Peter Stoicheff. “These necessary upgrades not only make possible USask’s mission of research, teaching and learning, but ensure the critical healthcare infrastructure located on our campus that serves Saskatchewan people can operate without disruption.”
The upgrades were made possible by a $17-million investment from the Government of Saskatchewan and through close collaboration between USask Facilities—a unit of the USask Office of the Vice-President Administration—and SaskPower.
“The collaborative effort on this project is just the latest example in a long partnership between SaskPower and USask,” said SaskPower President and CEO Rupen Pandya. “With this upgrade in place, SaskPower can provide the USask campus with the reliable power it needs to grow and thrive. We look forward to continued collaboration as we meet the shared challenges of the future.”
Completed over three years, the project modernized and expanded how power is delivered, substantially improving the efficiency of how power is distributed to each building, and revamping how energy infrastructure will be monitored and maintained.
“Our government is proud to support infrastructure that improves the campus environment for students, faculty and staff,” Advanced Education Minister Colleen Young said. “Thanks to this partnership, classroom and health care facilities on the University of Saskatchewan campus will continue to have reliable electrical services.”
Due to careful planning and co-ordination—transferring power supply back and forth with SaskPower, the upgrades were completed with minimal total service interruption, with planned outages happening during non-peak times.
“One part of this project involved installing a total of 46 new capacitor banks—each weighing up to 4,000 pounds—at 31 sites across campus,” said USask senior project manager Janet Johnston, who led the work. “Some of the many benefits are increasing our efficiency to 99.5 per cent, and reducing costs.”
The improvements increase the overall reliability of power supply, adding critical supports, providing future capacity as demand for electricity grows, and ensuring future infrastructure projects on campus can be completed without electricity shutoffs disrupting ongoing activities.
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