FPL to lay 40 miles of underground power lines

NAPLES, Fla. (WINK)— FPL is converting overhead neighborhood power lines underground to make Collier County’s power grid more resilient for the future.

During the project, 1,470 FPL customers in the Golden Gate Estates area will benefit from the upgrades. Approximately 40 miles of neighborhood power lines are being inserted underground for this project, with an expected completion date at the end of 2026.

Crews lay 400 feet worth of conduit across neighborhoods. Once the conduit is layed, crews ‘tie’ it together. When the conduit is ready, the nearly 40 miles of power lines will be pulled through.

The directional bore, or the machine used to lay the underground piping, orevents crews from having to dig trenches.

“It helps us avoid that level of trenching in in our customer's yard. So this is a minimally invasive way for us to bring the benefits of underground power lines,” said Eble. “At the end of all construction  we want our customers to know that we'll restore their property just to the way it was, if not better.”

To date in Collier County, about 3,300 FPL customers have had their neighborhood power lines undergrounded through the Storm Secure Underground Program. Approximately 32 miles of neighborhood power lines have been undergrounded through the program in Collier County.

“ We're looking at vegetation related outages, and we're following that data to areas that tell us what would most benefit from having their lines converted underground,” said Jack Eble, an FPL Spokesperson. “This makes our grid more storm resilient and stronger, helping us to be more efficient, getting the power back on for our customers. When the next storm inevitably does strike.”

While no energy grid is completely stormproof, this undergrounding effort strengthens the system to better withstand hurricanes and severe weather. FPL has already placed 2,000 miles of lines underground statewide.

FPL's Storm Secure Underground Program takes a data-driven approach, using data from past hurricanes, vegetation-related outages and other metrics to identify areas that would most benefit from underground power lines. Underground power lines perform significantly better than overhead lines during severe weather and also enhance day-to-day reliability.