Photo: News Service of Florida seen in clickorlando.com
“Less than a week after Hurricane Ian knocked out power to large swaths of Florida, state regulators Tuesday approved utilities’ long-term plans to try to bolster the electric system.
The state Public Service Commission approved, with some changes, plans submitted by Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy Florida, Tampa Electric Co. and Florida Public Utilities Co. The plans detail a wide range of projects, including increasing the number of underground power lines…
State Rep. Randy Fine announced Thursday that more than 100,000 people in Brevard County lost power during Hurricane Ian’s trek across Central Florida. As the commission Tuesday took up what are known as ‘storm protection plans,’ Commissioner Gary Clark described the situation as a ‘balance.’
‘We are never going to build a system that is storm-proof. It’s not possible,’ Clark said.
Commissioner Gabriella Passidomo also raised concerns about costs and benefits, saying that ‘maybe we need to just temper our pace a little bit in these investments and reassess over time about how effective they are in certain areas. Because, as we have seen, every storm is very different.’
Utilities filed the proposals in the spring, but Tuesday’s commission votes came as crews continued to work on restoring power after Hurricane Ian slammed the Southwest Florida coast Wednesday and continued across the state… As an example of the money involved, FPL’s proposal included more than $4.67 billion in costs over the next three years, according to a commission staff recommendation. That was before Tuesday’s changes, which would at least slightly reduce the amount.
In its proposal, FPL said the projects would largely continue efforts started under a plan approved in 2020 by the commission.
‘The existing hardening and storm preparedness programs have already demonstrated that they have and will continue to increase T&D (transmission and distribution) infrastructure resiliency, reduce restoration times, and reduce restoration costs when FPL’s system is impacted by extreme weather events,’ the proposal, filed in April, said.”
— Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida in clickorlando.com