Hurricane season is right around the corner, one of the reasons Florida Power and Light is ramping up their resources and installing new weather-resistant power poles.
- New 55-foot power poles being installed in Brevard County
- The projects costed more than $2 billion
- New poles supposed to be safer against sever weather, incoming hurricanes
It’s all part of their “Storm Hardening” project, designed to help make Central Florida safer.
After seeing the destruction severe weather can cause, Florida Power and Light saw a need for stronger, more resilient electrical grids across Central Florida, putting more than $2 billion into these storm-hardening projects.
“A key component of our hardening infrastructure is setting bigger, stronger poles,” FPL General Manager Art Macey explained.
FPL says these stronger, more reinforced, 55-foot power poles are being installed all throughout Brevard County to make the powerlines safer against severe weather and incoming hurricanes.
On Friday storm hardening crews installed those poles along a 4 mile stretch on Ranch Road in West Melbourne.
“We’re putting in stronger more weather resilient poles that will be able to withstand up to 130 mph winds,” FPL Spokesperson Bill Orlove, said.
In total FPL says they’ve strengthened more than 600 service lines throughout their territory in Central Florida. An extensive project, but one they say will make all the difference for restoring power back to their customers as soon as possible.
“We know that when we put in stronger, more storm resilient power poles, even in good weather, they perform 40 percent better for our customers,” Orlove said.
The storm-hardening project along Ranch Road will wrap up near the end of the year and they’re set to install 193 reinforced poles along that stretch.