SANFORD, Fla. – When Sanford Power Plant began generating electricity in 1926, Florida was a very different place.
The town of Sanford, founded on the south shore of Lake Monroe, had grown around railroads, agriculture and the Florida land boom. As electricity began spreading across the state, Sanford Power Plant became part of that transformation. The plant was the first constructed Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) facility to put energy onto the grid and one of 10 power plants FPL built and operated as power expanded across Florida during the first half of the 20th century.
A century later, the plant still plays an important role in powering Florida — and twin brothers Kevin and Devin Sanford are part of the team helping carry that legacy into its next chapter.
Both brothers work in instrumentation and controls at Sanford Power Plant, supporting the systems that help operators safely and reliably monitor plant equipment. Their work touches the technology behind temperatures, pressures, flows, valves, controls and remote monitoring systems.
For Kevin and Devin, working at the plant together is the latest chapter in a shared story that started long before they joined FPL.
Raised in Central Florida, the brothers grew up around problem-solving. Their father, who served as an instrument technician in the Air Force before becoming an auto mechanic, helped spark their interest in understanding how things worked. Devin said they were always curious as kids, sometimes breaking things before learning how to fix them.
That curiosity eventually led both brothers to join the Navy’s nuclear power program, where they served as reactor operators aboard aircraft carriers. The training gave them experience operating complex systems while also maintaining the electronics and equipment behind them, a foundation that continues to shape their work today.
Their career paths later split and came back together.
Kevin joined FPL in 2001, first at Port Everglades Power Plant before transferring to Sanford Power Plant. Over more than two decades, he has seen the plant change dramatically, from equipment and control room upgrades to a stronger focus on safety, environmental responsibility and reliability.
Devin spent years in field service working on industrial power systems before returning to Florida. After joining the company he shortly began working at the Sanford Plant, where he now works alongside his brother.
The brothers help maintain the plant's instrumentation and digital control systems — the "eyes and ears" of the facility — ensuring thousands of sensors, transmitters and control devices accurately monitor temperatures, pressures, flows and equipment performance. Their work helps operators identify potential issues early and maintain reliable plant operation.
"When I have questions, Devin's the one I go to," Kevin said. "He thinks differently than I do, and I've learned a lot from that."
That partnership matters at a plant that has continuously evolved for 100 years. The Sanford Power Plant was built at industrial scale for its time, with a 10-megawatt first unit, 900,000 bricks, 3 million pounds of structural steel and a turbine that required 13 rail cars to haul from factory to plant.
Over the decades, the plant added new units, expanded its cooling infrastructure and later repowered the site by retaining steam turbines while adding combustion turbines and heat recovery steam generators. The plant was fully modernized in 2003 without requiring additional land.
Today, Sanford Power Plant is a large, flexible natural gas resource with more than 2,500 megawatts of capacity and 10 operational generating units. The plant is also capable of remote operations through FPL’s Fleet Control Center.
For the twins, being part of Sanford Power Plant’s centennial is meaningful not because of any single project, but because of the role they play in a much larger story.
“It’s neat to be part of a historic moment,” Kevin said. “I’ve played my part. I’ve been here for almost a quarter of a century.”
“For 100 years, Sanford Power Plant has helped power Florida because generations of dedicated employees have taken pride in operating it safely and reliably,” said Scott Bores, FPL president & CEO. “Kevin and Devin are carrying that legacy forward today, and I’m grateful to them and the entire Sanford team for the important role they continue to play in serving our customers.”
As Sanford Power Plant enters its next century, Kevin and Devin are helping write the next chapter through the same dedication, curiosity and pride that have defined the plant for generations.
