In 2023, Florida Power and Light plans to make a number of upgrades in Okaloosa County as part of an ongoing effort to enhance day-to-day reliability and improve resiliency in the face of severe weather. These investments include moving more power lines underground, strengthening overhead lines and installing more intelligent devices along the energy grid to help detect potential problems and restore power faster when outages do occur. The investments have the added benefit of improving day-to-day reliability for customers as well.
FPL plans to make the following improvements in and near Okaloosa County this year:
1. Strengthening six main power lines, including those that serve critical services and are necessary for communities to recover faster after major storms.
2. Maintaining trees and vegetation – a common cause of power outages, particularly during hurricanes and severe weather – along 937 miles of power lines.
3. Installing smart grid technology, including 31 automated switches on main and neighborhood power lines to help detect problems and restore service faster when outages occur.
4. Inspecting four main power lines and equipment using infrared technology to detect issues before they cause a power interruption.
FPL made the following improvements in Okaloosa County from 2019 – 2022:
1. Strengthened 28 main power lines, including those that serve critical services.
2. Inspected 23,396 power poles for strength.
3. Installed smart grid technology, including 1,663 automated switches on main and neighborhood power lines.
4. Inspected 391 main power lines and equipment using infrared technology.
“No energy grid is outage-proof; however, we’ve made and are continuing to make significant investments to strengthen the grid to make it more resilient to severe weather,” said J.T. Young, vice president of FPL Northwest Florida. “These upgrades also benefit our customers each day by delivering more reliable service to power their homes and businesses.”
Strengthening power poles, managing trees and vegetation near power lines, installing smart grid technology to fix problems before they affect customers and using robots and drones to regularly inspect equipment have all helped FPL improve its service reliability by 41% since 2006. These upgrades have helped reduce both the number and duration of outages, as well as the number of momentary interruptions or power flickers.
“Delivering more reliable service and being there for our customers when they need us most is part of the value we bring. This includes investing in innovative solutions and technology that help keep the lights on,” said Bernard Johnson, local senior external affairs manager for FPL. “We work year-round to ensure our customers in Northwest Florida experience fewer power interruptions and faster restorations after major storms.”
In 2022, for the seventh time in eight years, FPL was awarded the ReliabilityOne® National Reliability Award. Presented by PA Consulting, the award is widely regarded in the energy industry as one of the most prestigious honors and reinforces FPL’s commitment to provide customers with the nation’s most reliable service.
As America’s largest electric utility, Florida Power & Light Company serves more customers and sells more power than any other utility, providing clean, affordable, reliable electricity to approximately 5.8 million accounts, or more than 12 million people. FPL operates one of the most fuel efficient and cleanest power generation fleets in the U.S and in 2022 won the ReliabilityOne® National Reliability Award for the seventh time in the last eight years. The company was also recognized by Escalent in 2022 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric utilities for the ninth consecutive year.
FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE). NextEra Energy is ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune’s 2023 list of “World’s Most Admired Companies” and recognized on Fortune’s 2021 list of companies that “Change the World.” NextEra Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is the world’s largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage. For more information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
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