Nearly a year after hurricanes Helene and Milton struck Florida, Duke Energy Florida continues its efforts to improve the reliability of its power grid. The two storms, which made landfall within weeks of each other, affected nearly 2 million customers and required the mobilization of almost 25,000 workers for restoration efforts. Most outages were resolved within 72 hours.
In response to recent storm impacts, Duke Energy Florida has been making ongoing investments in infrastructure. These include self-healing technology that can detect outages and reroute power automatically, replacing about 60% of wooden transmission poles with concrete or steel since 2020 with a goal to finish by 2028, and placing roughly half of its distribution system underground to protect against severe weather.
The company has also completed hardening projects at 38 substations and is working on more than 30 additional sites. Vegetation maintenance remains a priority, with over 4,000 miles trimmed on distribution lines and plans for nearly 660 miles on transmission lines this year. Additionally, an “Assess and Address” program proactively identifies equipment upgrades before storms occur.
“Duke Energy Florida stands ready to respond to any storm activity that impacts our state,” said Melissa Seixas, president of Duke Energy Florida. “We prepare for this time all year and every investment we make helps to keep our customers’ lights on and speed restoration when an outage does occur.”
Antonio Price, vice president of zone operations at Duke Energy Florida, noted improvements in Pinellas County due to these investments: “Particularly in Pinellas County, we are seeing significant improvements in our restoration times because of our grid hardening efforts over the last years,” he said. “In Pinellas County, 90% of our residents are served by self-healing technology, and that allows us to quickly restore outages without dispatching personnel. It also allows us to narrow down where the outages are so we can restore even more quickly.”
Duke Energy Florida supplies electricity to approximately 2 million customers across a service area covering 13,000 square miles in the state. Its parent company, Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), is based in Charlotte, North Carolina and serves electric utilities customers across six states while also providing natural gas services in five states.
The company’s broader strategy includes investing in major grid upgrades as well as cleaner energy sources such as natural gas, nuclear power, renewables and energy storage.
More information about Duke Energy’s initiatives can be found at duke-energy.com and through their social media channels.
