IDEA 2023 System of the Year Awards

Longtime IDEA Member Austin Energy was presented with the prestigious 2023 IDEA System of the Year Award at the Annual Chair's Awards Dinner at IDEA2023, held Monday, June 5, 2023 in Chicago, IL.
The Downtown District Cooling System is one of three district energy systems owned and operated by Austin Energy, a community-owned municipal electric utility enterprise . The District Energy & Cooling (DEC) program began serving its first customer in April 2001 and has since grown to serve 73 customers, covering a total of 25 million square feet of space, including residential towers, office buildings, hotels, Whole Foods grocery, the Austin Convention Center, City Hall and Austin Community College Highland Campus.
James Kassim, Director of District Energy and Cooling, accepted the Award on behalf of the team at Austin Energy. Armando Armengel, Michelle Bryant and Paige Davis were also in attendance. “If you want to be in this business, if you want to do a good job, you have to have the passion,” said Kassim. “If you don’t have the passion, it will be just a job. This award has motivated us to invest even more in our team and the people, to train them, to help them to love what they do, so they can give back.”
Congratulations Team Austin Energy!