The lights are back on at Algonquin College and so is the air conditioning.
A statement from Algonquin College President Cheryl Jensen, issued Wednesday, says the Woodroffe campus has been “reconnected to the city’s power grid.”
Jensen says after an investigation by Hydro Ottawa Monday, the source of the problem was linked to one of the college's two high-efficiency co-generation natural gas plants.
“The power failure was not an aging infrastructure issue,” Jensen says. “This news meant that major and prolonged work was not necessary to solve the problem. The issue was a failed component in the main high-voltage switch gear in the central plant. We had a spare part on site, and work began immediately to replace the failed part.”
Jensen says full power was restored Tuesday night, with testing done Wednesday morning to ensure the connection was stable and to switch every building off of generators. The only building that has not been switched over at this time is Residence.
Air conditioning has been restored throughout the campus, but Jensen says it may take some time for buildings to return to normal temperatures.
Power went out to the college on Friday, forcing them to cancel weekend programming. It was restored by Monday, but went out again later that day.
Jensen says staff will be looking into the root cause of the power failure, to make sure it doesn't happen again.