PORTLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE (PCC)

Portland Community College (PCC) Power Study for the Rock Creek Campus

Overview

An arc flash, short circuit study and protective device coordination study was completed for 9 buildings at the PCC Rock Creek Campus.  The studies included a report of code violations and equipment concerns such as aged or damaged equipment. The campus contains a 521KW solar array, an airplane hangar building and large welding and motor labs. Electrical drawings that included the recommended construction changes based on study findings were created and cost estimates were provided. CE Engineers also provided construction support by reviewing all electrical submittals and generated all the as built drawings.

Challenges/Solution

CE Engineers was part of the electrical system data collection of each building, three CE Engineers and a team of 12 electricians were on site for the data collection of each building.  It is important to gather good electrical system data for the study to obtain good results.   One of the challenges with gathering the data is having accurate preliminary drawings but 6 out of the 9 buildings at the PCC Cascade campus had no up to date drawings due to the buildings having gone through several remodeling phases.  If the drawings are not up -to-date the data collection phase takes significantly longer which can be very costly since sometimes the data collection is done on Saturdays or takes longer than 8 hours to perform.  Based on preliminary photos taken of the electrical panels by the electricians and reviewing the panel schedules, we came up with accurate preliminary drawings that made the data collection phase go smoothly.

Results

We were able to provide PCC accurate drawings and recommended upgrades to their electrical system that made it safer for electrical personnel to service.

Back to Projects