In 2007, OUC and St. Cloud marked a decade-long relationship.
A New Power Partnership: OUC and the City of St. Cloud In a precedent-setting move, OUC entered
serve as the foundation for their partnership
into a 25-year Interlocal Agreement with its
moving forward:
neighbor, the City of St. Cloud, to manage,
• Reliability: OUC promised to make significant improvements in the reliability of electric service.
operate and maintain the City’s electric system. The agreement, which became effective May 1, 1997, was the first of its kind in the state. With vast tracts of undeveloped land, St. Cloud understood that it was on the threshold of tremendous growth — but that it would take an investment in infrastructure and competitive rates to realize that potential. With that in mind, St. Cloud looked to OUC, with its long record of outstanding service and affordable rates. The two entered a long-term agreement, identifying five areas that would
• Rates: OUC promised to lower the electric rates of St. Cloud customers. • Retention: OUC agreed to hire the St. Cloud utility employees. • Return: OUC agreed to provide regular payments to the City of St. Cloud based on revenue growth. • Representation: Both partners formed a contract committee to oversee the longterm agreement. Over the years, OUC kept its promises, continuing to provide clean, affordable, reliable power to St. Cloud and serving as a community partner to help make the City strong and prosperous.
OUC’s Downtown Chiller Plant.
A new business venture that generated additional revenues, OUCooling brought its first
OUC LAUNCHES
OUC took over the Convention Center’s existing
central chiller plant online in 1997. The 6,600-ton-
chillers, linking them to the OUCooling plant at
capacity facility was built for Lockheed Martin’s
nearby Lockheed Martin and saving Orange
Electronics & Missiles Company and served
County about $10 million by avoiding expansion.
11 buildings on the 300-acre complex.
Initially, OUC teamed up with Trigen-Cinergy
In February of 1998, OUCooling began the
Solutions to create the chilled water business,
operation of its first downtown facility. The plant
but the partnership ended in 2004.
was the first step in the creation of a downtown
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convention complexes. Under the agreement,
In 2009, thanks in part to OUC’s efforts, chilled
loop that would circulate chilled water through
OUCooling signed a 20-year contract to
water qualified for LEED (Leadership in Energy
underground pipes — eventually serving OUC’s
pump chilled water for the air conditioning
and Environmental Design) certification points.
administration building, City Hall, CNL Center,
at the Orange County Convention Center,
As of 2010, OUC had eight chiller plants,
Lincoln Tower and the Amway Center.
one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing
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with a cooling capacity of about 50,000 tons.