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OUC's Cool Concept Expands Westward
OUCooling, the utility's "district cooling" division, has extended its chilled water lines to the much-anticipated Hughes Square project west of Interstate 4. The service will provide air-conditioning to tenants at the 150,000-square-foot Hughes Supply headquarters, as well as to 25,000 square feet of retail space and the adjacent 266-unit City View apartments. "OUC is committed to helping reinvigorate the west side of downtown Orlando," says Keith Rice, OUC's director of chilled water services. "We're glad to be a partner in this important project." The lead developer of Hughes Square, Bank of America Community Development Corporation, chose to outsource the production of chilled water to OUCooling because it wanted a more economical, trouble-free solution. By taking chilled water from OUC, the developer avoided the upfront capital costs associated with buying its own chillers. On top of that, the developer doesn't have to worry about any chiller-related operations and maintenance — or noisy A/C units. "The density of this project demanded that we use a cooling system that is architecturally appealing and quiet," says Robert F. Carmichael, a senior vice president with Bank of America. "Not only does OUCooling deliver reliable service, which we expect from OUC, it also reduces our maintenance costs and adds to the overall quality of life in this neighborhood," says Ed Timberlake, Central Florida president of Bank of America. With district cooling, customers receive chilled water through a line connected to a central chiller plant (in this case, OUC's chiller plant on South Orange Avenue). The 38-degree water passes through the coils in the customers' air-handling units, cooling the air as it passes through. The water then flows back to the plant to repeat the cycle. When planning its new headquarters project, Hughes Supply quickly saw the wisdom in using chilled water from OUCooling. "The chilled water approach is something we are very excited about, for a lot of reasons," says Tom Morgan, president and chief operating officer of Hughes Supply. "Primarily, it's a more efficient way of cooling our facility. We're also glad to help OUC expand its horizons for new opportunities with chilled water cooling." A Diverse Client Base OUC launched its chilled water service for commercial air-conditioning systems in 1997. Its first project was a chilled water plant for Lockheed Martin in south Orange County. The following year, OUC constructed its first district cooling plant in downtown Orlando to serve the growing, diverse commercial market there. Today, OUCooling's district cooling "loop" downtown serves more than a dozen customers — representing over 2 million square feet of space combined. Customers include the CNL Center, Westin Grand Bohemian Hotel, Embassy Suites Hotel, Lincoln Tower, City Hall, First Presbyterian Church, 201 E. Pine Street, 100 E. Pine Street and OUC's administration building. In 2002, OUC started expanding the downtown system northward to accommodate even more customers, such as the Southern Community Bank tower, downtown Post Office and Catholic Diocese of Orlando. Other customers have since signed up for service but are not yet receiving chilled water. Although chilled water is a relatively new offering for the 80-year-old municipal utility, it was a natural fit. "With Florida's heat and high humidity, a district cooling service made sense," says OUC's Rice. "It's a logical choice — a value-added service that our customers truly need." With OUCooling, commercial and industrial customers also avoid the environmental risks associated with chemical handling and refrigerants. In fact, district cooling can actually help the environment by using low-emission water chillers that minimize ozone depletion and increase energy efficiency. In addition, building owners who use OUCooling benefit from smaller mechanical rooms (and therefore more rental space), no insurance requirements, improved property resale value and more time for facility personnel to tend to other tenant needs. An Industry Leader OUC's foray into district cooling has certainly paid off with recognition within the industry. Since 1997, OUCooling has garnered a number of awards, including the Downtown Orlando Partnership's Award of Excellence, as well as accolades for design, construction and engineering. Just last year, it won a first-place award from the International District Energy Association for signing up more customer square footage than any other chilled water provider in the world. OUCooling added 9 million square feet of customer space — more than twice the space secured by the second-place winner. A key factor in OUCooling's explosive growth has been the trend toward outsourcing. As the economy has tightened, building owners have explored innovative avenues for saving capital and improving profits. While these owners concentrate on their core competencies of building or leasing space, companies like OUCooling have taken over the costly and often time-consuming task of providing services such as chilled water. Given the 20-year life cycle for most in-house cooling systems, services like OUCooling can save builders and owners 15 percent to 40 percent compared with on-site equipment and maintenance costs. "OUCooling can mean millions of dollars saved for commercial and industrial customers," notes Rice. Aside from its downtown district cooling loop, OUCooling operates on-site cooling systems for the new Mall at Millenia, the Orange County Convention Center and the Sheraton Vistana Villages timeshare development in south Orange County. At the convention center, OUCooling has built the world's largest chilled water storage tank — a 17.6 million-gallon reservoir that is filled nightly.
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