FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Hurricane Dorian could cut power to millions of homes and businesses in Florida, and especially those in South Florida where it could make landfall.
"With a storm of Dorian's potential magnitude, we expect outages to occur, but (electric grid) investments will help speed our restoration process," said FPL CEO Eric Silagy in a statement.
But hurricane history has shown that despite FPL's upgrades, power outages can last for weeks.
To restore power after the storm subsides, FPL said Friday it has lined up 13,000 utility workers, including 8,000 crews from out of state.
In comparison, the electric utility had more than 3,000 workers in-state and 25,000 from out-of-state who helped restore power during 2017's Hurricane Irma, the last major storm to knock out power to South Florida, even though it landed in the Keys.
Juno Beach-based FPL provides power to about half the state, or about 10 million people. In major hurricanes over the past two decades, power has been out for weeks.
In 2005's Hurricane Wilma, which was particularly damaging to Fort Lauderdale, 3.2 million customers lost power in the hurricane, according to an FPL report to the Florida Public Service Commission, which regulates the electric utility.
In Hurricane Irma in 2017, 90% of FPL's customers, or 4.2 million homes and businesses, lost power, according to the report.
Even with an improved grid and additional help from out-of-state utilities, it took FPL 10 days to restore customers after Irma, which was a widespread storm in the state. But 50% of its customers were restored within one day, which FPL attributes to improving its grid, according to the report.
FPL has invested nearly $4 billion to make the grid stronger, smarter and more storm-resilient since 2006. The Florida Public Service Commission mandated certain improvements, such as replacement of rotted wood power poles, following multiple hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 that left customers out of power for weeks. Grid improvements have included installation of sturdier power poles, putting some critical utility lines underground, and adding "smart" devices to mitigate flooding, which can cause grid damage.
