JUNO BEACH, Fla. – Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) is sending transmission equipment to help Entergy Louisiana restore power after Hurricane Ida made landfall earlier this week. In addition to the equipment, more than 1,250 FPL and Gulf Power employees and contractors have been deployed to Louisiana since Sunday to support the restoration effort.
Two semi-trailer trucks left St. Lucie County this morning with 20 pieces of critical equipment that will be used to help rebuild transmission structures. Each cylindrical structure is more than 10 feet long with a diameter of nearly 4 feet, and will be used to set new transmission poles. Transmission lines carry large amounts of high voltage energy over long distances and are essential to providing power to communities.
“The power of Mother Nature and the damage it caused with Hurricane Ida has been very humbling,” said FPL President and CEO Eric Silagy. “We know all too well how challenging complex restorations, like this one, can be. We have relied on support from out-of-state utilities a number of times and our team is always more than willing to help our fellow Americans in their time of need.”
The dedicated men and women who volunteered to support restoration efforts will work 16-hour days in excessively hot and difficult conditions to restore power in the areas devastated by the deadly Category 4 hurricane.
“I’m always proud of how our team and industry step up to help those in need,” said Senior Vice President of Power Delivery Manny Miranda. “Many of our teammates left their friends and family to travel more than 900 miles to help get the lights back on and bring back a sense of normalcy in communities devastated by this storm. I appreciate the efforts our team continues to make assisting our partner utilities, especially knowing the busiest part of storm season is still in front of us.”
Providing mutual assistance after natural disasters is a hallmark of the energy industry. FPL’s restoration workforce joins more than 18,500 workers from around the country who have responded to restore power in Louisiana.
Editor’s note: B-roll of transmission equipment traveling to Louisiana - https://fpl.sharefile.com/d-s99770432cf494b81b41554142e200971
Florida Power & Light Company
Florida Power & Light Company is the largest energy company in the U.S. as measured by retail electricity produced and sold. The company serves more than 5.6 million customer accounts supporting more than 11 million residents across Florida with clean, reliable and affordable electricity. FPL operates one of the cleanest power generation fleets in the U.S. and in 2020 won the ReliabilityOne® National Reliability Excellence Award, presented by PA Consulting, for the fifth time in the last six years. The company was recognized in 2020 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric utilities by Escalent for the seventh consecutive year. FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a clean energy company widely recognized for its efforts in sustainability, ethics and diversity, and has been ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune’s 2021 list of “World’s Most Admired Companies.” NextEra Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is the world’s largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage. For more information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
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