Power outages during Hurricane Irma are expected to affect 4.1 million customers – about 9 million people – according to Florida Power & Light.
FPL held a news conference on Friday to update customers about the work they were doing in preparation for the massive storm expected to hit Florida on Sunday morning.
‘That would be unprecedented for us and probably any utility,’ said FPL CEO Eric Silagy.
FPL held a news conference on Friday to update customers about the preparation for Hurricane Irma expected to hit Florida on Sunday morning
Power outages during Hurricane Irma are expected to affect 4.1 million customers – about 9 million people – according to Florida Power & Light
‘I want to reassure our customers that we are prepared for Hurricane Irma.’
The third-largest electric utility in the U.S., FPL serves almost 10 million people in the southern half of Florida and Silagy says they are ready for it.
‘We currently have an army, frankly, of 13,500 restoration workers, both FPL crews and outside crews ready to respond as soon as it’s safe to do so, he said.
‘Many of the linemen are coming from across the country including from as far away as California.
‘That would be unprecedented for us and probably any utility,’ said FPL CEO Eric Silagy of the impact the storm could have
‘We have prepositioned equipment and people getting ready to fight the aftermath of Irma.’
Silagy did add, however, that he didn’t want to put any workers in jeopardy though.
He said ‘Unfortunately, there will be a period of time where we will have to hunker down and wait.
‘We have to wait until the winds subside to 40mph to get on the road, 35mph to get buckets in the air.’
FPL plans for the entire process of restoration to happen over multiple weeks.
‘With these kinds of winds, we are not looking at restoration but actually rebuilding. These kinds of winds can bend metal poles,’ he said.
Thousands of miles of power lines will be impacted, according to Silagy and while 40 percent of the lines are underground, those too can be affected by the storm
‘We are going to see a lot of damage. We are going to see a lot of debris that will unfortunately impact the system and we are going to have to do a lot of cleanup.’
Silagy declared that restoration would start as soon as they could get on the roads and wouldn’t stop until ‘every single customer’ had their lights back on.
Thousands of miles of power lines will be impacted, according to Silagy and while 40 percent of the lines are underground, those too can be affected by the storm.
Spokeswoman Marie Bertot asserted that the power would stay on during the storm, squashing rumors stating otherwise.
FPL will be shutting down nuclear power plants Turkey Point and St. Lucie before the storm
‘FPL has one of the smartest, strongest grids in the country. We’re going to keep operating that grid before the storm and during the storm. So it’s not true,’ she said to CBS Miami.
‘We’re going to continue operating until the storm no longer allows us to do so and then we are going to restore power.’
However, FPL will be shutting down nuclear power plants Turkey Point and St. Lucie before the storm.
‘We will shut those plants down 24 hours before the onset of winds reaching category 1 and only restart after the winds have passed and the storm has passed,’ said Silagy.
‘We will shut those plants down 24 hours before the onset of winds reaching category 1 and only restart after the winds have passed and the storm has passed,’ said Silagy
‘Turkey Point actually had a direct impact hit by Hurricane Andrew, a category 5, and suffered no damage to its nuclear facilities,’ Silagy stated.
Bertot added that there were several natural gas that also gives the area its power.
‘We don’t turn those off. We continue to generate power during the storm. Now if we have any damage to a plant it’s prioritized. It’s the first thing that we fix,’ she said.
The 1992 hurricane did cause $90 million in damage to surrounding buildings. Officials had to cool down the nuclear reactors after shutting down the plant. They must be cooled off after shutting down or a meltdown can occur causing hydrogen-air explosions and release of radioactive material.
Both plants are protected by six-feet steel-reinforced concrete and have backup generators and extra fuel.
‘We will not take any chances and those plants will be secured,’ said Silagy.
FPL said it invested about $3 billion to strengthen its electrical grid after Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana in 2005