Thermal Energy Corporation (TECO) is pleased to welcome Chris Wieland as Maintenance Manager. Chris joins TECO as a new hire, bringing with him more than 20 years of supervisory and technical field experience from roles within the energy industry and U.S. Navy.
Chris is responsible for overseeing TECO’s large-scale maintenance department, ensuring the availability of resources and support required for reliable delivery of critical services to TECO’s customers in the Texas Medical Center.
As a manager, Chris balances personnel availability and equipment downtime schedules to fulfill planned maintenance tasks and unplanned emergency service requests. He monitors and evaluates present conditions within the plant, supervising the day-to-day inventory, repair, maintenance, and installation of equipment and utility systems across TECO. He will also be tasked with anticipating and initiating strategic plans and projects that will keep TECO fully-functioning and operating at optimum efficiency and reliability well into the future. Chris works closely with engineering, operations, procurement, consulting engineers, equipment vendors and construction contractors to ensure a well-run and informed team across departments.
“Maintenance Manager is a critical role within TECO,” said Mike Manoucheri, TECO president and CEO. “Keeping our equipment operating at optimum levels, anticipating future needs and ensuring a quick response to any potential issue allows us to continue our successful 30-year track record of uninterrupted service. Chris’ exceptional experience and enthusiasm for this position and our mission makes him a perfect fit. We are glad to have him as part of the TECO team.”
“As a manager, I enjoy working with people, solving problems, and collaborating with my team to ensure the successful achievement of our department’s goals,” said Chris. “It is also rewarding to help the team learn new skills and grow professionally. I enjoy creating programs that communicate information more effectively and refining processes to improve plant uptime in support of providing the highest level of service possible to our customers in the Texas Medical Center.”
TECO’s combined heat and power-based district energy system pipes chilled water and steam to 24.3 million sq ft in 51 buildings in 17 different institutions on the pacesetting Texas Medical Center campus. Customers use TECO’s chilled water for space cooling, cold rooms, and refrigeration and TECO’s steam to meet space heating, dehumidification, humidification, sterilization, kitchen, sanitary and research requirements. TECO’s district energy system began operation under the ownership of Houston Natural Gas Co. in 1969, with TECO acquiring the system in 1978. TECO’s chilled-water network is the largest CHP-based district cooling system in North America.
