Smart devices bolster Florida utility grid

Florida-based Gulf Power officials said the utility’s effort to install more smart grid devices would help reduce outage times for customers.

The automated lateral switch (ALS) devices are installed on power poles to detect power outages. They can also help improve the energy grid’s ability to automatically restore power while decreasing the number of customers impacted by outages and preventing temporary issues on the grid.

“We are deploying these smart grid devices across Northwest Florida to help improve reliability for our customers, both in good weather and bad,” Mike Spoor, vice president of power delivery for Gulf Power, said. “We understand how challenging a power outage can be, no matter the length of time, and our team is working hard to provide safe, reliable energy that our customers can count on.”

The devices also reduce the need to assign a Gulf Power lineworker to evaluate the outage and manually restore service, who h officials said improves safety and reduces costs for customers.

The utility expects to reduce its annual customer outage time once the 5,000-plus units are in service across northwest Florida by the end of 2020.

“The collaboration between our teams of lineworkers and engineers to get 1,400 units installed as we moved into storm season has been tremendous,” Spoor said. “We have already seen what a positive difference this technology has made for our sister company’s customers and look forward to continuing to invest in this technology to improve our own customers’ experience.”