Memorial University plans to shut down power at its main campus in St. John's for five days, starting Friday at 6 p.m., in order to facilitate a major electrical upgrade.

During the blackout, workers are scheduled to replace more than 3.2 kilometres of high-voltage cables, some more than 40 years old.

Ashley Abbott is an education student at Memorial University. (CBC)

"It's taking out significant old pieces of infrastructure, and completely replacing them," said Darrell Miles, the director of facilities management at Memorial University. "And in the case of the residence, it's adding some new in because we're now providing power supply to the new residence buildings."

Plans have been put in place to switch some university buildings to backup power systems and generators, allowing some research and events to carry on, but the majority of the campus will be without power.

Campus population ready

Staff and students seem to be taking the planned outage in stride, as Monday is a holiday for many on campus.

Any exams and classes set to happen on that day have been rescheduled.

Ashley Abbott, an education student, said the timing of the outage works out well for her.

"I have a busy weekend, so Monday can be dedicated to all schoolwork," said Abbott.

University officials expect the the power to be back on at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, July 10.