SMARTER THAN EVER: “These upgrades, including the very latest grid technology, will help get the lights back on faster after storms,” said Sean October, local area manager at FPL. PHOTO COURTESY OF FPL

To get ahead of an unpredictable hurricane season, Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has been working to strengthen and upgrade the area energy grid to make it smarter and more storm resilient.

The ongoing storm hardening efforts include trimming debris, undergrounding powerlines, installing smart-grid technology, and inspecting power poles in select areas.

FPL has been making the following upgrades throughout 2024 in Fort Lauderdale as part of its ongoing commitment to avoid outages and restore power faster following severe weather:

• Planning 54 Storm Secure Underground Program (SSUP) projects to replace overhead neighborhood power lines with more reliable underground lines.

• Strengthening 14 main power lines, including those that serve critical community services.

• Maintaining trees and vegetation – a common cause of power outages, particularly during hurricanes and extreme weather – along 358 miles of power lines.

• Inspecting 5,170 power poles in Fort Lauderdale as part of an eight-year inspection cycle, strengthening or replacing those that no longer meet FPL’s industry-leading standards.

New this year: As part of its continuous leveraging of new technologies to improve the utility’s reliability, FPL is implementing the following innovations:

• Piloting the installation of automated underground switches to help detect and isolate outages, further enhancing reliability of underground lines.

• Using “smart trimming” technology to identify and trim a leading cause of power outages: trees and other vegetation contacting power lines. Smart trimming also helps the company identify areas of concern and assign the work electronically, saving inspection time.

When the planned 2024 work is completed, FPL will have made the following improvements since 2006 in the Fort Lauderdale area:

• Completed 130 SSUP projects.

• Strengthened 95 main power lines, including those that serve critical services.

• Inspected and maintained vegetation near 4,064 miles of power lines – an average of 226 miles per year.

• Inspected 55,393 power poles for strength.

• Installed smart grid technology, in- cluding 3,239 automated switches on main and neighborhood power lines.

For perspective, in the most recent statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, FPL’s service reliability was nearly three times better than the national average.

“These upgrades, including the very latest grid technology, will help get the lights back on faster after storms,” said Sean October, local area manager at FPL.

Find more information to prepare for your home for storm season at: fpl.com/storm/home/prepare.html Find more information to prepare for your business for storm season at: fpl.com/storm/business/prepare.html