Florida Power & Light improves overall reliability
Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) scored its best-ever reliability rating in 2019 due in part to improvements to the energy grid, the company reported in its annual report.
“Our customers are experiencing fewer momentary interruptions or flickers and fewer outages than ever before because we continue to build a stronger, smarter, and more storm-resilient grid,” FPL President and CEO Eric Silagy said. “And, we will continue to use emerging technology to find new, innovative ways to deliver cleaner and more reliable energy to more than 10 million Floridians while keeping bills approximately 30% below the national average.”
FPL has invested more than $5 billion to upgrade the grid and improve reliability over the past five years. The enhancements have not gone unnoticed as FPL was awarded the ReliabilityOne National Reliability Award, presented by PA Consulting, last year for the fourth time in five years.
FPL will continue to develop new technology to improve reliability, such as advanced mobile applications that make diagnosing problems easier.
“We’re going to keep doing what we are doing to harden our system and deliver the reliable power our customers expect, because it’s working,” FPL Senior Vice President of Power Delivery Manny Miranda said. “We’re seeing that hardened power lines perform 40% better in day-to-day operations, which means fewer outages are experienced by customers. And in severe weather like Hurricane Irma in 2017, every hardened transmission structure – the backbone of the energy grid – withstood the significant impacts of the hurricane.”
One of the key initiatives last year was strengthening or undergrounding of 50 percent of its main power lines. That initiative continues going forward. It also began upgrading transmission line structures, which carry high-voltage power from power plants to substations, by replacing all-wood structures with concrete or steel. Currently, 96 percent of FPL’s transmission structures are steel or concrete. Also, FPL has installed more than 120,000 intelligent devices that prevent power outages and help to restore power faster if an outage occurs.
This year, FPL will continue to focus on the use of smart grid technology by installing new automated transformer switches (ATS). These switches reduce unnecessary maintenance because crews no longer have to go out for a simple fix from a temporary fault.
“We know our customers depend on electricity more and more in today’s high-tech world. That’s why we continually improve our system in ways that will benefit customers, and why we work hard to serve them every day,” Miranda said.
