CASE STUDIES 50 CASE STUDY VIII – OUTAGE & RELIABILITY SUCCESS REPORTING Florida Power & Light – Process for documentation of outage reduction results achieved from system hardening efforts started in 2006. CHALLENGE The Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) implemented storm hardening rules in 2006 to strengthen the state’s electric infrastructure and minimize infrastructure damage. Florida Power & Light (FPL) was challenged with implementing these rules while maintaining service reliability. SOLUTION FPL worked with local leaders, legislators, regulators, and state leaders, to develop a five-point Storm Secure Plan to strengthen their electrical system. There are near- and long-term commitments that will make a difference in better serving our communities. Approximately $4 billion of investments to the energy grid since 2006 have taken place under this program. The overall objective was to reduce the number of storm-related outages and to restore service quickly. Critical characteristics include: o Hardening the electric network – 98% of critical community functions (police, fire, hospital, 911, etc.) and 93% of transmission structures of concrete or steel. o Investing in underground conversions – 40% of at-risk infrastructure converted to underground. o Pole inspections – Inspecting 1.2 million poles on an eight-year cycle. o Line clearing/vegetation management – 15,000 miles of line addressed annually. o Post-hurricane repairs and targeted facility upgrades – 5+ million smart meters & 110,000 intelligent devices. The current three-year plan included investing approximately $2 billion, which includes hardening its main power lines and replacing all remaining wooden transmission structures. By the end of 2022, FPL expects that all of its transmission structures will be steel or concrete. RESULT Storm impact of 2016’s Hurricane Matthew and 2017’s Hurricane Irma were dramatically reduced versus previous storms. 2018 saw the best ever service reliability and the firm won the 2018 ReliabilityOne™ National Reliability Excellence Award presented by PA Consulting for the third time in four years. Accomplishments include: o 546,000 customer interruptions avoided with smart grid switches. o 50% (two million) customers restored in 24 hours versus five days in previous storms. o Replaced only 4,600 damaged poles versus 12,400 in previous storms. o Reenergized all substations in 24 hours versus five days in previous storms. REFERENCE CONTACT Manny Miranda, SVP Power Delivery, Florida Power & Light, (561) 904-3408, manny.miranda@fpl.com SOURCES #71, #180
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