Overview

Lehigh University (Lehigh), has a sprawling footprint with three contiguous campuses encompassing 1,600 aces. The main campus, Asa Packer Campus, sits near the base of South Mountain. The Mountaintop Campus sits atop the mountain where the main 69kV substation feeds PPL power to both campuses. Lehigh’s third campus, Goodman Campus, is served by an independent PPL service and by 2.6 MW of solar power added in 2024.

Overhead power lines mounted on wooden utility poles traversed a 600-ft elevation change down the densely wooded mountain, distributing power to the Asa Packer and Mountaintop campuses. Falling trees and branches caused recurring outages, impacting the campus and its 7,500+ students. Lehigh was forced to close for a week in 2012 as a result of the extended outages they experienced following superstorm Sandy. This prompted them to embark on a series of improvements to ensure reliability and resiliency of their power systems.

Throughout this ongoing endeavor, we have assisted Lehigh by preparing an Electrical Utility Master Plan to identify and prioritize system needs for the expanding campus, engineering the recommended improvements, assisting during bidding and construction, and completing an Electrical Utility Master Plan update to quantify completed improvements and make updated recommendations for ongoing future renewals.

Electrical Utility Master Plan
We were initially contracted to determine the feasibility of moving 8,000 ft of overhead lines to new underground electric duct-bank. However, it became evident that Lehigh would benefit in the long-term from a more comprehensive plan. Consequently, we provided a campus Electrical Utility Master Plan to evaluate the current state of the electrical distribution system at the Asa Packer and Mountaintop Campuses, recommend upgrades to improve total system reliability, and plan for anticipated campus expansions.

Electrical Utility Upgrades
Although the Utility Master Plan allowed improvements to be phased-in as project funds became available and in coordination with the many building projects being planned, Lehigh decided to proceed with most of the electrical system improvements immediately, as construction of several new campus buildings was imminent.  

Three new underground feeders, fed from four substation breakers, were installed to run approximately 8,000 feet down the mountain from the Mountaintop Campus to several substations serving the Asa Packer Campus. Power is now distributed from these substations through underground duct-banks  at 12kV. A feeder with greater power capacity was installed to serve the campus, along with spare feeders should there be a cable failure. A new fiber optic telecom duct-bank was installed alongside the power lines, improving the reliability of the campus tele-data system. Older 4kV electric lines, hanging from wooden utility poles through portions of the Asa Packer Campus, were replaced with underground cable, and a loop distribution system was implemented to replace the previous radial layout. These upgrades improved reliability and resiliency and allowed Lehigh to begin switching many of the older buildings to the 12 kV electric supply and removing the aging 4kV poles and wires.

Electrical Utility Master Plan Update
As improvements continued and with additional new construction on the horizon, we completed an updated Electrical Utility Master Plan to identify the areas of the distribution system that needed to be modified to ensure  adequate contingency capacity during peak load. As the campus continues to evolve, the improved system remains capable of handling additional load, providing dependable system operation and flexibility for future growth.