OUC History Book

Page 46

ups an� �owns

OUC’s bulk sales and interchange activities escalated dramatically in the ‘80s and so did the role of its sophisticated load dispatch/energy control center, located at the Pershing Operations Center.

OUC Opens Pershing and Gardenia Operations Centers In 1992, OUC opened the Pershing Operations Center to serve the east part of town. Its counterpart on the west side, the

and water systems, all 24-hour operations

Gardenia Center, opened one year later.

except at power plants, fleet service facilities

Both facilities were built to replace the small,

and the utility’s third customer service center

antiquated water and electric operations/

(including drive-through lanes).

maintenance facilities located on the north

The 22-acre Gardenia Operations Center

side of Lake Highland. Costing a combined

was completed in the fall of 1993 and

$37 million, they were constructed to meet

housed OUC’s Water Quality Lab, internal

OUC’s space needs for up to 20 years.

audit, warehouse, fleet, water distribution,

The 48-acre Pershing complex contained OUC’s computer “nerve centers” for electric

revenue protection, water and meter testing, and security.

Gardenia Operations Center.

Combustion Turbines Added to Indian River Plant In November 1992, OUC added a pair of combustion turbine units at the Indian River Plant (IRP). With three steam generating units and two small 35-MW combustion turbine units in place since 1989, IRP represented 57 percent of OUC’s total generating capacity. All IRP units operated on either oil or natural gas, a flexibility that enabled the utility to take advantage of market conditions and buy fuel cheaper than other utilities. IRP was also valuable to OUC as a source of substantial revenue from bulk power sales.

Charged up about using energy wisely and reducing harmful auto emissions, OUC tested its first electric-powered vehicles in 1993 — taking its conservation program “on the road” in a minivan outfitted with rooftop solar panels.

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