OUC’s Board of Commissioners, on Dec. 8, unanimously approved the Electric Integrated Resource Plan (EIRP), a 30-year roadmap to a clean energy future. The EIRP was more than two years in the making, with community input establishing reliability, affordability, sustainability and resiliency, in that order, as its priorities.
The plan sets in motion an ambitious overhaul of OUC’s energy grid. It calls for closing Stanton Energy Center’s two coal plants by 2025 and 2027, and converting the units to natural gas. The converted units will be closed by 2040, if not sooner, as we continue to add solar power assets and phase in other renewable energy resources.
Furthermore, the EIRP guides OUC toward a goal of reaching Net Zero CO2 emissions by 2050, with interim goals of a 50% emissions reduction by 2030 and 75% reduction by 2040, all compared with 2005 levels. Just as importantly, the plan directionally aligns with Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer’s 2017 aspiration to achieve 100% renewable energy generation for Orlando by 2050.
“The real work is in front of us,” said Clint Bullock, General Manager & CEO, after Board members expressed their support for the EIRP.
