Collin College’s Plano campus will be closed to the public from May 15-29 for upgrades to its electrical systems. The project is part of the ongoing improvement plan that began in fall 2022 and continued through spring 2023, while the campus was fully occupied.
Dr. Mary Barnes-Tilley, the campus provost, acknowledged the temporary closure as unfortunate but necessary while work is being done to the campus’s electrical system. “The safety and comfort of our students and employees are paramount at the Plano campus, and ongoing improvements like these are creating the best environment possible for learning,” said Barnes-Tilley in an official statement.
During the shutdown, functions like registration and advising will shift to the college district’s other campuses. More information on a campus near you is available at www.collin.edu/campuses.
The campus’s main power will be shut down while emergency backup power is upgraded, adding additional power to the police dispatch area, IT system rooms throughout the campus, some science labs, and the Cougar Café kitchen. The project also provides for the connection of a temporary roll-up generator to power the backup system if the building generator is damaged or becomes inoperable.
The new air handlers use an air-side economizer function to use temperate air below 60 degrees directly from outside to cool the building without having to run the chillers, cooling towers, and pumps, producing measurable savings throughout the fall and winter. The air handlers also feature variable frequency drives (VFDs), replacing multiple units that ran at constant speeds. Energy savings are expected by reducing fan speed when less air is needed during lower occupancy or more moderate ambient temperatures.
Air quality was improved by providing additional filters, UV lights in all air handlers, replacing retrofitted UV and bi-polar ionizers installed during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and additional airflow monitoring stations. Temperature control was improved with more boiler heating and pumping capacity in the central plant and additional heating coils in some air handlers.