Florida Power & Light holds annual storm drill ahead hurricane season

Riviera Beach, Florida – Florida Power & Light is making sure they are ready to respond as hurricane season knocks on our door.

On Thursday, inside their Riviera Beach Command Center, a simulated category three hurricane is hitting the panhandle.

“Due to the technology, we have in the smart grid we’re able to see where all of the outages are – all of that information is fed into this command center so we best direct the crews where they need to be,” says Bill Orlove, FPL spokesperson.

Crews will soon have some new tools to get power back on even faster out in the field.

Outside the command center sits FPLAir One, their new fixed-wing drone that FPL hopes to reduce long restoration times. “After severe weather, we would see and assess the energy grid and see what damage may have been caused,” says Marshall Hastings with FPL.

Also, on display was a fully antonymous rover for substations which is used to safely check substation equipment and the area. “We can drive them around taking pictures of fence lines, security perimeters, it’s also got a visual camera and a thermal camera so we can see things we wouldn’t see just driving around,” says Kyle Bush, FPL.

Every day we’re not experiencing a storm is a day that FPL is preparing for one. They are regularly inspecting poles and making sure trees are away from powerlines, throughout the year.