Southwest Florida utilities say power grid is stronger heading into hurricane season

FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) — Nearly four years after Hurricane Ian left hundreds of thousands of Southwest Floridians without electricity, local power providers say they have spent years strengthening the electric grid to better withstand future storms.

With hurricane season underway, both Florida Power & Light and Lee County Electric Cooperative say investments in infrastructure, technology and storm preparation are aimed at reducing outages and restoring power faster when severe weather strikes.

For Cape Coral resident Kelly Palmer, the memories of Ian remain fresh.

“During Ian, we were probably without power for four weeks,” Palmer said.

She says living without electricity for nearly a month created challenges many Southwest Floridians know all too well.

“It was a lot of grilling, keeping food cold in a cooler and getting ice,” Palmer said. “It was kind of like camping inside my house.”

Since Ian, utilities have continued investing in upgrades designed to make the grid more resilient.

FPL says one of the biggest changes involves smart-grid technology. The company says it now has more than 240,000 intelligent devices installed throughout its electric system. Those devices communicate with one another and can automatically reroute power when part of the grid is damaged.

“Think about it like a GPS in your car,” said FPL spokesperson Jack Eble. “If there’s a crash on the highway, you’re rerouted from point A to point B. That’s how some of our smart grid devices work along the grid.”

According to FPL, those devices helped customers avoid more than 800,000 service interruptions during the 2024 hurricane season, which included three hurricanes making landfall in Florida.

The company also says all transmission structures serving Southwest Florida are now made of steel or concrete. FPL has also continued expanding underground power line projects through its Storm Secure Underground Program, which uses outage and storm data to determine where underground lines could provide the greatest benefit.

LCEC says its approach to grid hardening focuses on three areas: physical infrastructure, technology and automation, and system design.

“We are in very good shape,” said LCEC CEO Denise Vidal. “It’s really three categories that we think about when we’re hardening the infrastructure. First is the physical infrastructure, next is the technology and automation, and then it’s how you design the infrastructure.”

The cooperative says it has replaced wooden transmission poles with concrete and steel structures, increased vegetation management efforts and expanded automation that can isolate outages and reroute electricity around damaged sections of the system.

Vidal says one of the biggest lessons learned from Hurricane Ian involved improving restoration operations, communication and resource management during major disasters.

Despite those improvements, utility leaders stress that no electric grid can completely withstand every storm.

“We know that no grid can be 100% storm-proof,” Eble said.

Palmer says hearing about the investments gives her some comfort as another hurricane season begins.

“To hear that something’s being done that can help, that’s awesome to know,” Palmer said. “It eases my anxiety some.”

Both utilities encourage residents to prepare now by reviewing emergency plans, stocking up on food, water and medications, and learning how to safely operate generators before a storm threatens Southwest Florida.