Overview

With a long history as a teacher’s college, Lock Haven University became part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education in 1983. The main campus consists of 26 buildings spread across 200 acres.

The campus was in need of electrical infrastructure upgrades to replace aged equipment, increase capacity and reliability, and provide redundancy in power supply. We assisted the University with upgrades to the majority of the buildings on campus including the dining hall, library, gymnasium, academic facilities and residence halls.

Entech provided engineering services for planning, design, and construction management for general renovations to provide a new second service loop to the campus.
Major project elements included: electrical switchgear replacement in the gymnasium, three-phase 208-volt conversion to three-phase 240-volt systems in the health building, and main distribution panel/switchboard replacements at 17 other campus buildings.

The University required that temporary power be provided for all buildings affected by the construction. Disruptions in service needed to be approved and coordinated in advance to ensure that critical operations could continue during construction. Site lighting was kept operational throughout the project by providing either temporary lighting or temporary power supply.

A project of this size had many challenges including congestion of existing underground piping/ductbanks, unstable soil, and abandoned asbestos pipe requiring remediation. Entech was able to provide design changes as needed to avoid obstacles, relocate equipment and piping, and keep the project moving forward.

Construction was carefully sequenced to enable the campus to function normally during the upgrades.

With the upgrades complete, the University has more reliable electrical supply to the campus, as well as capacity for the foreseeable future.