Nearly one year after hurricanes Helene and Milton made landfall in Florida, Duke Energy Florida is reflecting on its storm response efforts and ongoing investments to improve the reliability of its power grid. The two storms, which struck within weeks of each other, affected nearly 2 million customers and required the mobilization of approximately 25,000 workers and resources to restore service. Most outages were restored within 72 hours.
Duke Energy Florida has focused on strengthening its infrastructure through various measures such as implementing self-healing technology that can automatically detect outages and reroute power to minimize downtime for customers. Over the past five years, about 60% of wooden transmission poles have been replaced with more durable concrete or steel alternatives, with plans to complete this initiative by 2028. Additionally, roughly half of the company’s distribution system has been placed underground to protect against weather-related disruptions.
Other initiatives include completing hardening projects at 38 substations, with over 30 more underway; maintaining vegetation along more than 4,000 miles of distribution lines; and planning nearly 660 miles of work on transmission lines this year. The company also runs an “Assess and Address” program aimed at proactively upgrading equipment before storms occur.
Melissa Seixas, president of Duke Energy Florida, stated: “Duke Energy Florida stands ready to respond to any storm activity that impacts our state. 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 specific areas: “Particularly in Pinellas County, we are seeing significant improvements in our restoration times because of our grid hardening efforts over the last years. 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 around 2 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers across a service area covering 13,000 square miles in Florida. The parent company Duke Energy serves a total of 8.4 million electric utility customers across six states in the U.S., operating with a total energy capacity ownership of about 54,800 megawatts.
The company continues investing in grid upgrades as well as cleaner generation sources such as natural gas, nuclear energy, renewables, and energy storage as part of its broader energy transition goals.
For further information about Duke Energy’s activities or updates regarding their energy transition initiatives visit duke-energy.com or the Duke Energy News Center.
