Florida Power & Light strengthening power grid with pole hardening project
NAVARRE, Fla. (WKRG) — As hurricane season approaches, Florida Power and Light is looking to increase storm resiliency to their power grid in Northwest Florida.
Crews were on Navarre Beach on Wednesday hardening their main power lines by replacing wooden poles with concrete poles.
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“The purpose behind the program is to harden the grid to withstand hurricane force winds up to 145 MPH and increase our customers’ reliability,” Florida Power and Light’s Northwest Florida hardening program project manager Chad Swails said.
By replacing the wooden poles with concrete or steal poles, and increasing how deep the poles are put down, Florida Power and Light is hoping to reduce outages and restoration costs when severe weather hits.
“In the event of a storm the idea is that the poles will not fail,” Swails said. “The framing hardware on the poles will be there first thing to fail, and if we have to come out for a restoration event, we reframe the poles, rehang the wire and move on to the next event. It expedites the restoration process.”
The project is something Santa Rosa County Commissioner Sam Parker thinks will have a big impact on the community.
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“Ultimately that creates a life safety improvement,” Parker said. “You know we’ve got a lot of seniors that live out here and that depend on medical devices to have a consistent dependable electricity, so I’m just so thankful for FPL taking that step proactively.”
Florida Power and Light started their pole hardening project in Northwest Florida in 2020 and hopes to complete it by 2031.
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