By Peter Covino
Lifestyles Editor

The whistle atop the downtown KUA power plant will blow one last time at noon Sept. 30, and then the decades-old once sole source of electricity for Kissimmee will have a date with a demolition crew.

But before the 50-megawatt plant and supporting equipment is demolished and turned into rubble, area residents can have one last goodbye at an open-house Tuesday from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

The importance of the Roy E. Hansel Generating Station has diminished through the years, since it first opened in downtown Kissimmee in 1983.

The Kissimmee Utility Authority has opened larger and more advanced generating plants and entered agreements with other utilities in Florida, said Chris Gent, vice president of communications for the utility company.

The old plant has still been in use through the years. But at nearly 30-years old, it has pretty much come to the end of its life expectancy, Gent said.

“It still has a few days left in it,” Gent said, but Sept. 30 will mark the end of an era.

The public got an opportunity to tour the once technological wonder Sept. 11, the first of two such tours.  It is a fun, educational trip for the family and even includes hot dogs, chips, lemonade and cookies.

Experienced KUA crew members lead the behind-the-scenes tour to give residents a look at the inner workings of the plant.

Among those attending the first of the two behind-the-scenes tours was former Kissimmee Mayor Bruce Van Meter.

“I remember going to the ground-breaking and the opening,” Van Meter said. “It was a big thing when we put it in.”

On this particular tour, Jay Butters, a veteran of 27 years with KUA, and current manager of power production, led a small group.

“This plant was new when I started,” Butters said.

And Kissimmee was virtually an island when it came to electric power production, since there were no agreements.

Which is how that famous daily whistle came to be. The whistle was originally blown so utility workers could reset watches and clocks to make sure timing was precise. With just one power plant, any kind of outage could cause all sorts of problems.

The city and KUA have grown a lot since then. The utility is Florida’s sixth largest community-owned utility, providing electricity and telecommunication services to 64,000 customers in Osceola County.

The tour of the soon-to-be demolished plant is fairly encompassing. Residents even get a chance to visit the control room and autograph the generator.

“It is like a jet engine on steroids,” Butters said of the generator, which is very loud and hot when operating. It is not as efficient as the utility’s Cane Island power plant, but it got the job done.

The utility is still working out the details of a salvage agreement to demolish the plant, but it will actually make some money on the deal, Gent said. The generators still have life in them and will be sold and shipped, probably out of the country.

The city, meanwhile, has plans for the property, which includes the nearby original Hansel plant built in 1901. Eventually, it will all be part of the renovated city park project.

A new substation will occupy a small part of the industrial area, but it will be enclosed. Utility workers said the new substation would look just like an enclosed building.

In addition to the final public tour with light refreshments Tuesday, the city and KUA will have one final ceremony Oct. 1. The famous whistle also will be handed over to city officials as a part of the ceremony.

For those interested in going on the tour, the plant is located at 102 E. Lakeshore Blvd., adjacent to Kissimmee Lakefront Park.

For questions about the tour, contact KUA’s corporate communications department at 407-933-9836.