Florida Power & Light enhances energy grid with planned upgrades in Miami-Dade & Fort Lauderdale

How we’re upgrading your neighborhood:

FPL plans to make the following upgrades throughout 2024 in Coral Gables as part of its ongoing commitment to avoid outages and restore power faster following severe weather:

• Strengthening 10 main power lines, including those that serve critical community services. 
• Maintaining trees and vegetation – a common cause of power outages, particularly during hurricanes and extreme weather – along 110 miles of power lines.
• Inspecting 1,626 power poles in Coral Gables as part of an eight-year inspection cycle, strengthening or replacing those that no longer meet FPL’s industry-leading standards. 

FPL plans to make the following upgrades throughout 2024 in Doral as part of its ongoing commitment to avoid outages and restore power faster following severe weather:

• Strengthening two main power lines, including those that serve critical community services. 
• Maintaining trees and vegetation – a common cause of power outages, particularly during hurricanes and extreme weather – along 61 miles of power lines.

FPL plans to make the following upgrades throughout 2024 in Miami as part of its ongoing commitment to avoid outages and restore power faster following severe weather:

• Planning 212 Secure Underground Program (SSUP) projects to replace overhead neighborhood power lines with more reliable underground lines. 
• Strengthening 21 main power lines, including those that serve critical community services. 
• Maintaining trees and vegetation – a common cause of power outages, particularly during hurricanes and extreme weather – along 368 miles of power lines.
• Inspecting 8,083 power poles in Miami as part of an eight-year inspection cycle, strengthening or replacing those that no longer meet FPL’s industry-leading standards

FPL plans to make the following upgrades throughout 2024 in Pinecrest as part of its ongoing commitment to avoid outages and restore power faster following severe weather:

• Strengthening seven main power lines, including those that serve critical community services. 
• Maintaining trees and vegetation – a common cause of power outages, particularly during hurricanes and extreme weather – along 43 miles of power lines.
• Inspecting 315 power poles in Pinecrest as part of an eight-year inspection cycle, strengthening or replacing those that no longer meet FPL’s industry-leading standards. 

FPL plans to make the following upgrades throughout 2024 in Fort Lauderdale as part of its ongoing commitment to avoid outages and restore power faster following severe weather:

• Planning 54 Storm Secure Underground Program (SSUP) projects to replace overhead neighborhood power lines with more reliable underground lines. 
• Strengthening 14 main power lines, including those that serve critical community services. 
• Maintaining trees and vegetation – a common cause of power outages, particularly during hurricanes and extreme weather – along 358 miles of power lines.
• Inspecting 5,170 power poles in Fort Lauderdale as part of an eight-year inspection cycle, strengthening or replacing those that no longer meet FPL’s industry-leading standards. 

New this year: FPL continuously leverages new and innovative technologies to improve reliability for its customers and is implementing the following innovations this year:

• Piloting the installation of automated underground switches which will help detect and isolate outages, further enhancing reliability of underground lines.
• Using “smart trimming” technology to identify and trim a leading cause of power outages: trees and other vegetation contacting power lines. Smart trimming also helps the company identify areas of concern and assign the work electronically, saving inspection time.

Cumulative improvements in the Coral Gables area: When the planned 2024 work is completed, FPL will have made the following improvements since 2006:

• Strengthened 16 main power lines, including those that serve critical services.  
• Inspected and maintained vegetation near 1,512 miles of power lines – an average of 84 miles per year.   
• Inspected 16,689 power poles for strength.
• Installed smart grid technology, including 1,041 automated switches on main and neighborhood power lines.

Cumulative improvements in the Doral area: When the planned 2024 work is completed, FPL will have made the following improvements since 2006:

• Strengthened 22 main power lines, including those that serve critical services.  
• Inspected and maintained vegetation near 800 miles of power lines – an average of 44 miles per year.   
• Inspected 4,992 power poles for strength.
• Installed smart grid technology, including 253 automated switches on main and neighborhood power lines  

Cumulative improvements in the Miami area: When the planned 2024 work is completed, FPL will have made the following improvements since 2006:

• Completed 324 SSUP projects. 
• Strengthened 59 main power lines, including those that serve critical services.  
• Inspected and maintained vegetation near 3,811 miles of power lines – an average of 212 miles per year.   
• Inspected 79,042 power poles for strength.
• Installed smart grid technology, including 3,061 automated switches on main and neighborhood power lines.  

Cumulative improvements in the Pinecrest area: When the planned 2024 work is completed, FPL will have made the following improvements since 2006:

• Inspected and maintained vegetation near 593 miles of power lines – an average of 33 miles per year.   
• Inspected 8,346 power poles for strength.
• Installed smart grid technology, including 636 automated switches on main and neighborhood power lines.

Cumulative improvements in the Fort Lauderdale area: When the planned 2024 work is completed, FPL will have made the following improvements since 2006:

• Completed 76 SSUP projects. 
• Strengthened 95 main power lines, including those that serve critical services.  
• Inspected and maintained vegetation near 4,064 miles of power lines – an average of 226 miles per year.   
• Inspected 55,393 power poles for strength.
• Installed smart grid technology, including 3,239 automated switches on main and neighborhood power lines.

A word from Javier Palma, local area manager at FPL: “We are so pleased to be able to offer these system upgrades to our customers in the Miami-Dade and Fort Lauderdale area. Our dedicated team at FPL is committed to providing you with safe and reliable electric service. These upgrades, including the very latest grid technology, will help get the lights back on faster after storms.”

For perspective: An annual report filed March 1 with the Florida Public Service Commission details how FPL delivered the best service reliability in company history last year. In the most recent statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, FPL’s service reliability was nearly three times better than the national average.