More power for the Hönggerberg campus
In 2008 the power company of the city of Zurich (ewz) will switch the power supply to the campus. For this purpose, the power must be switched off for 30 minutes in each ETH building at Hönggerberg.
To ensure the power supply of large-scale customers, the power company of the city of Zurich (ewz) increases the voltage of its current electricity distribution from 11 kV to 22 kV. ETH Zurich is also a major customer with the Hönggerberg location, where the conversion of ewz is planned for 2018.
In order to be able to run the buildings with the increased voltage in the future, the corresponding installations have been continuously rebuilt or renewed since 2014. The transformer plants in HPP and HPK are currently being revised. From the middle of this year, the buildings HIT, HPR and HC0-HC5 will follow.
All buildings at the Hönggerberg site
In total, Hönggerberg has 20 transformer stations with 48 transformers connected in three rings structure-wise. The transformer stations, some of which are over 40 years old, provide the low voltage for the buildings at Hönggerberg. In the course of the voltage conversion, 16 transformer stations and 28 transformers have to be installed.
In 2008, all buildings in Hönggerberg will be taken off the grid for 30 minutes in a span of 45 days and converted to the new voltage. This so-called currentless switching is not performed in all buildings at the same time, but in succession. Detailed planning data are expected to be available to the ETH in spring 2017.
The Public Real Estate Management and Facility Management departments are currently working on building-related conversion plans, which will regulate the exact sequence.