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– Company continues to strengthen and modernize grid to help speed restoration following major storms
– FPL has increased in service reliability more than 40% over past decade
– 2020’s record-breaking hurricane season is a reminder of the importance of FPL’s efforts to build the nation’s most intelligent and reliable energy grid
Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) customers in Miami continue to benefit from the company’s ongoing work to strengthen the energy grid and improve service reliability. FPL investments, which include strengthening power lines and poles, trimming trees near power lines, installing smart grid technology; and undergrounding power lines in select areas, help make the grid more reliable day-to-day and speed restoration following major storms.
“For more than 15 years, FPL has been improving the energy grid, making it stronger, smarter and more storm-resilient to keep the lights on for customers in good weather and bad,” said Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL. “Last year, there was a historic level of tropical activity with 30 named storms, and as a result of our ongoing investments in smart grid technology, we were able to speed restoration during these storms and avoid more than 150,000 outages. In addition, we continue to find cost-effective ways to replace overhead power lines with underground lines to reduce outages caused by animals, birds, trees and other vegetation.”
In 2018, FPL began a pilot program known as the Storm Secure Underground Program (SSUP) after Hurricane Irma, which was implemented to cost-effectively move overhead power lines underground in targeted communities. In neighborhoods including Miami, that have experienced a history of vegetation-related interruptions, the program’s goal is to enhance customers’ service reliability and the energy grid’s resiliency. As of Dec. 31, 2020, more than 240 SSUP projects have been completed throughout the company’s service area.
2021 improvements in the Miami area
FPL plans to make the following improvements in and near Miami this year:
- 21 Storm Secure Underground Program (SSUP) projects planned
- Strengthening 15 main power lines, including those that serve critical services that are necessary for communities to recover faster after major storms
- Inspecting and clearing tree branches and vegetation — a major cause of power outages — from 225 miles of power lines
- As of this year, will have inspected 100% of power poles in Miami over the past eight-year inspection cycle, strengthening or replacing those that no longer meet FPL’s standards
- Installing smart grid technology, including 250 automated switches on main and neighborhood power lines to help detect problems and restore service faster when outages occur
- Inspecting 11 main power lines and equipment using infrared technology to detect issues before they cause a power interruption
When the planned 2021 work is completed, FPL will have made the following improvements in and near Miami since the historic 2004-2005 hurricane seasons:
- Strengthened 35 main power lines, including those that serve critical services
- Reviewed 3,708 miles of power lines, clearing an average of 247 miles of tree branches and vegetation per year
- Inspected all 24,728 power poles every eight years
- Installed smart grid technology, including 3,603 automated switches on main and neighborhood power lines
- Inspected 330 main power lines and equipment using infrared technology
As part of the Storm Protection Plan approved by the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC), FPL estimates that between 300 and 500 neighborhood power lines will be placed underground annually from 2021 to 2022. Over the next 10 years, FPL plans to continue investing about $1 billion annually on storm hardening. These programs are a continuation of the company’s existing hardening programs and have benefited customers by successfully reducing restoration costs and outage times during major storms, as well as improving day-to-day service reliability.
“FPL’s efforts to build the nation’s most intelligent and reliable energy grid have resulted in a more than 40% improvement in service reliability since 2006 for our customers,” said Manny Miranda, senior vice president of power delivery for FPL. “As our service reliability has improved, we continue our efforts to embrace emerging technology to find innovative ways to deliver reliable and affordable energy.”
Strengthening the FPL grid throughout Florida
Since 2006, FPL has invested over $5 billion, as well as ongoing maintenance and improvement work, to make the energy grid stronger and smarter. This includes:
- Strengthening nearly all of its main power lines serving critical community facilities and services, such as police and fire stations, hospitals and 911 centers; more than 60% of all feeders, or main power lines, are hardened or underground
- Installing more than 5 million smart meters and more than 155,000 intelligent devices along the energy grid using advanced technology that helps detect problems and restore service faster if outages occur
- Proactively reviewing about 15,000 miles of power lines each year and trimming and removing vegetation where necessary to keep lines clear and help prevent outages
- Beginning the second eight-year inspection cycle of the company’s 2 million power poles and upgrading or replacing those that no longer meet FPL’s standards for strength (approximately 150,000 poles inspected annually)
- Continuing the replacement of wooden transmission structures with new ones made of steel or concrete; 98% of transmission structures are now steel or concrete, and by 2022, 100% is expected to be steel or concrete
- Beginning the Storm Secure Underground Program, a three-year pilot to determine cost-effective ways to replace overhead power lines with more reliable underground lines in select neighborhoods to enhance reliability in good weather and bad. In Hurricane Irma, neighborhood underground power lines performed 85% better than overhead power lines; nearly 50% of FPL’s 68,000 miles of distribution power lines are already underground
FPL was named the winner of the 2020 ReliabilityOne™ National Reliability Excellence Award presented by PA Consulting. This is the fifth time in six years that the company has received the national award for providing superior service reliability to the more than 11 million people across Florida that it serves. FPL is one out of two electric companies that has received this national award five times.
