JUNO BEACH, Fla., May 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its
storm season preparations, Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) hosted a week-long "staging
site" training at the Pompano Park Racetrack in Pompano Beach, Fla. More than 1,200 employees
trained for what would be a massive logistical response to a major hurricane, including the deployment of thousands of workers,
equipment and the use of advanced technology and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to rapidly survey damage.
"This week's staging site training is yet another visible demonstration of how FPL prepares year-round to safely and quickly
restore power when a major event, such as a hurricane, impacts our customers' lives," said Manny
Miranda, senior vice president of power delivery for FPL. "This is one of the many ways our employees train for storm
season, using a hands-on experience to test our power restoration plans."
Pompano Park is one of approximately 100 designated staging sites strategically located across the state to serve as critical
resource centers to move crews and equipment closer to areas hit hardest after a major storm. Staging sites operate like
mini-cities; they offer hundreds of crew members a place to rest, eat, refuel and stock up on supplies as they work safely and
quickly to restore customers' service and help get communities back to normal.
During last year's Hurricane Matthew, for example, FPL opened 26 staging sites and supporting centers to direct its nearly
15,000-member restoration crew – the largest pre-staging effort of its kind in the company's history – to speed the restoration
process. FPL restored nearly 99 percent of customers affected by Hurricane Matthew by the end of two full days of restoration
following the hurricane's exit from its service area.
During this week's training, FPL employees participated in damage briefings and performed assessments of equipment. FPL
also demonstrated how technology plays an important part in surveying equipment and speeding restoration efforts. Critical to the
restoration process following Hurricane Matthew, FPL deployed UAS, or drones, more than 130 times to quickly survey storm damage
in areas that were otherwise inaccessible or unsafe in the storm's immediate aftermath.
FPL learns from past storms, makes investments to strengthen energy grid
This year's hurricane season, beginning June 1, also marks the 25th
anniversary of Hurricane Andrew, which impacted 1.4 million customers in five counties. Following Andrew, FPL established the
concept of staging sites to accelerate post-storm recovery efforts as a lesson learned.
Since the historic 2004/2005 storm season, FPL has invested nearly $3 billion to strengthen the
energy grid against severe weather, including:
- Hardening more than 700 main power lines serving critical community facilities and services, such as police and fire
stations, hospitals, 911 centers, grocery stores and gas stations;
- Clearing vegetation – a major cause of power outages – from more than 150,000 miles of power lines;
- Inspecting the company's 1.2 million power poles every eight years, and upgrading or replacing those that no longer meet
FPL's standards for strength (approximately 150,000 poles inspected annually); and
- Installing more than 4.9 million smart meters and 66,000 intelligent devices to help predict, reduce and prevent power
outages, and restore power faster if outages occur.
"We all must safeguard against complacency, particularly where it concerns hurricanes," said Miranda. "At FPL, we've worked
hard to put ourselves in the best possible position to respond to severe weather and we never stop working to improve. While we
have made significant investments in our electric system, we know there still will be power outages following a major storm. Just
as we continue to prepare and plan, we encourage our customers to do the same – make a storm plan now for their families and
businesses."
Business and residential customers can visit FPL.com/storm for more information about FPL's storm preparedness plans and tips to prepare before storm season
begins.
How to connect with FPL during a storm
Throughout the year, the company provides information to customers to help them prepare for storm season and
communicates with them after a severe weather event. FPL.com/storm features storm checklists and other information to help customers prepare and develop their own
storm plans. When a real storm strikes, FPL will provide updated restoration time estimates and other progress reports in
the locations listed below:
NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information on FPL's storm readiness and high-definition photos and b-roll,
please call the FPL Media Line at 561-694-4442, or visit the digital library of FPL's Newsroom (FPL.com/Newsroom).
Florida Power & Light Company
Florida Power & Light Company is the third-largest electric utility in the United States, serving approximately 4.9 million customer accounts or an estimated 10 million people
across nearly half of the state of Florida. FPL's typical 1,000-kWh residential customer bill is approximately 25 percent lower
than the latest national average and, in 2016, was the lowest in Florida among reporting
utilities for the seventh year in a row. FPL's service reliability is better than 99.98 percent, and its highly fuel-efficient
power plant fleet is one of the cleanest among all utilities nationwide. The company received the top ranking in the southern
U.S. among large electric providers, according to the J.D. Power 2016 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction
Study(SM), and was recognized in 2016 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric utilities by Market Strategies International. A
leading Florida employer with approximately 8,900 employees, FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach,
Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a clean energy company widely recognized for its efforts in
sustainability, ethics and diversity, and has been ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune's 2017 list
of "World's Most Admired Companies." NextEra Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together
with its affiliated entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. For more information
about NextEra Energy companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
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SOURCE Florida Power & Light Company