Powering Through

FPL workers install underground power lines throughout South Florida. FLORIDA POWER & LIGHT / COURTESY PHOTOS

Florida Power & Light Company says they prepare year-round for hurricane season and are ready for 2024.

“We know the price of paradise here in Florida is hurricanes and severe weather,” says Jack Eble, FPL spokesman.

The improvements through Palm Beach County and the rest of FPL’s sprawling coverage area include strengthening power poles, maintaining trees and vegetation near power lines, regularly inspecting equipment, installing smart grid technology and burying more neighborhood power lines underground.

Eble said FPL serves 43 counties, including most of the east coast, the west coast south of Tampa to Naples and northwest in the panhandle from Panama City to Pensacola.

Palm Beach County Preps:

2024

Planning 118 Storm Secure Underground Program (SSUP) projects to replace overhead neighborhood power lines with more reliable underground lines.

Strengthening 77 main power lines, including those that serve critical community services.

Improvements in Palm Beach County include strengthening power poles.

Maintaining trees and vegetation – a common cause of power outages, particularly during hurricanes and extreme weather – along 3,550 miles of power lines.

Inspecting 29,144 power poles in Palm Beach County as part of an eightyear inspection cycle, strengthening or replacing those that no longer meet FPL’s industry-leading standards.

Installing smart grid technology, including 1,174 intelligent devices on main and neighborhood power lines. These devices identify outages and reroute power around the trouble spots, preventing more widespread interruptions.

Since 2006

Completed 455 SSUP projects.

Strengthened 360 main power lines, including those that serve critical services. Inspected and maintained vegetation near 23,555 miles of power lines.

Inspected 238,650 power poles for strength.

Installed smart grid technology, including 10,213 automated switches on main and neighborhood power lines.

FPL said it is working continuously to build a stronger, smarter, more storm-resilient energy grid to serve customers.

They say their grid enhancements have helped shorten outage times and reduce restoration costs during severe weather.

GRID ENHANCEMENTS:

Smart Grid – Installing more than 215,000 intelligent devices along the energy grid to detect and prevent outages and minimize restoration times when outages occur. In recent years, smart-grid technology has helped avoid more than 600,000 outages during significant hurricane events.

Undergrounding – Replacing more overhead neighborhood power lines with more reliable underground lines through the Storm Secure Underground Program. These lines performed up to 12 times better during previous hurricanes.

Hardening – Strengthening nearly all main power lines serving critical community facilities and services. More than 76% of these lines are now hardened or underground. FPL has also replaced nearly all its transmission structures with steel or concrete.

FPL also uses drones to help crews see what they are up against in a storm’s aftermath. The drones can survey the damage, which allow crews to plan where to target their resources more efficiently.

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