Helping FPL deliver more reliable electric service

By investing in advanced technologies, FPL is able to prevent many power outages and, if they do occur, get the lights back on faster.

  • Outage prevention: With performance and diagnostic centers gathering and analyzing data like "nerve centers" on the grid, we perform predictive maintenance before brewing issues become disruptive problems.
  • Outage identification: Advanced sensors and switches help to quickly identify an outage and reroute power around the trouble spot, preventing more widespread outages.
  • Faster restoration: Advanced monitoring equipment communicates the location of many outages to mobile crews for faster repair and restoration. 

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Photo of an Automated Feeder Switch and an Automated Lateral Switch.

Automated smart grid devices improve the self-healing capabilities of the electric grid.
Left: Automated Feeder Switch, Right: Automated Lateral Switch

Reliability Devices and Systems

Here are examples of the advanced technologies that FPL has installed on power lines, equipment and substations:

  • Predictive Diagnostic Software helps us quickly detect deviations from normal operations and launch actions to minimize their impact.
  • Phasor Measurement Units at substations help identify stress points on the grid and restore service more quickly after outages.
  • Line Protection and Control Systems allow for the remote assessment of equipment operating conditions and help enable remote power restoration.
  • Digital Disturbance Recorders at electrical substations capture detailed information on system disturbances for analysis and correction.
  • Feeder Breaker and Regulator Intelligent Devices help FPL identify fault locations and improve power quality by providing operators in FPL Control Centers with remote access to regulator control panels.

Facts

  • FPL customers already receive more than 99.98 percent service reliability, which is among the very best in the nation.
  • FPL has installed more than 12,000 smart devices on the electric grid to help improve service reliability.
  • By 2020, smart grid technologies could reduce the cost of power interruptions by more than 75 percent and save American industry more than $150 billion a year.
    Source: Electric Power Research Institute