The annual Steam Shutdown will take place May 10-15 on the Kent Campus. In addition to the usual maintenance work conducted during this time, Facilities Planning and Operations is planning to perform a brief test of the turbines in the Power Plant on Summit Street. The turbine test is scheduled for Thursday, May 14, at approximately 5:30 p.m.

The purpose of the exercise is to test the turbines’ ability to power the Kent Campus without being connected to the Ohio Edison grid. The testing is in preparation for maintenance that the utility company will be doing on the main Ohio Edison power switches. If the test is successful, the university would be able to operate the campus without a loss of power when the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) required maintenance is conducted.

If all goes as planned, the test will be completed without any interruption in power. If the test is not successful, the Kent Campus would experience a short power outage while the university switches back to district power. If this happens, the power is expected to be off for a minute or two but no more than 10 minutes.

Kent Campus employees are asked to take appropriate precautions by shutting off all computers and any unnecessary equipment before leaving for the day on May 14.

Questions should be directed to Frank Renovich, associate director, Energy Operations, at 330-672-0775 or frenovi2@kent.edu.