Florida Power & Light prepares for hurricane season

Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) conducted an exercise in early May to prepare for what is expected to be an active hurricane season.

Some 3,000 FPL employees participated in the weeklong to test their response to a simulated two-landfall hurricane while adhering to safety measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was conducted with Gulf Power, which serves Northwest Florida and is part of FPL.

“We know that in Florida it’s not a question of if a hurricane will impact us, but when and where,” Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL, said. “Regardless of the forecast, Floridians know that it only takes one storm to upend our communities. That’s why we continuously prepare, make improvements, leverage technology, and sharpen our team’s skills so we can most effectively serve our customers when they need us most. The pandemic and other challenges do not change our steadfast commitment to restore power safely and as quickly as possible.”

To allow the company to safely deliver the reliable energy customers expect, FPL continues to execute its robust pandemic plan. Those safety measures are incorporated throughout the company’s hurricane response planning.

Based on lessons learned from the 2020 hurricane season, FPL has adopted daily health screenings for restoration personnel. It is also adjusting the layout of staging sites to allow for social distancing and reducing the number of personnel per site. The company is also adding more micro-staging sites. Further, FPL also assigned backup staffing and alternate locations for all critical functions, including command and control centers, coordinating storm response and grid operations.

In addition, FPL has prepared for hurricanes and severe weather by making the energy grid stronger, smarter, and more storm resilient. Part of that is an investment in hardening, or strengthening, nearly all main power lines serving critical community facilities and services, such as police and fire stations, hospitals, and 911 centers. The company has also installed more than 155,000 intelligent devices along the grid that detect problems and restore service faster if outages occur. Further, FPLO has reviewed about 15,000 miles of power lines each year to trim and remove vegetation where necessary to keep lines clear.

Also, FPL regularly inspects all poles and is replacing all the wooden transmission structures with steel or concrete or place them underground by 2024.

“We all have a fundamental responsibility as Floridians to be prepared for hurricane season,” Silagy said. “Now – before a storm has even formed, let alone threatens our state – is the time to prepare. Waiting until a meteorologist forecasts a storm’s impact is imminent is simply too late to be effective.”