Smart energy
How Florida Power & Light is investing in infrastructure to increase efficiency
Eric Silagy President & CEO – Florida Power & Light Company
Eric Silagy in Juno Beach on March 10, 2008.
What have been the most important milestones for Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) in 2016?
This past year, in Miami, we invested more than $50 million in transmission and distribution in the Downtown area. The Miami construction boom has been tremendous, but it has also created a lot of challenges. A lot of planning needs to be done in advance to be able to meet the needs of the new developments. That’s why we try and work really closely with the developers, the city and the county to be able to understand what is going to be happening in the next six to 12 months – and even beyond– so we can anticipate and execute the proper investments in an orderly and efficient way. We have to find the right balance so we can have growth that is done in a way that is the least impactful to residents as possible, but also provides future opportunities for those who live and work in Miami. Another factor that we need to take into account is being prepared for hurricanes. It is very important that we continue to be able to respond quickly because otherwise, the economic damages could be far worse than the physical ones. For example, electric cranes operate PortMiami, meaning they need electricity to operate reliably. If the power goes out due to a storm, the port stops operating, which is why we made important investments to strengthen the infrastructure of the port.
What has been the impact of the smart grid technology in Florida’s electric grid?
We have one of the smartest grid systems in America. Smart grid technology has completely changed the way we see and operate the electric grid. All customers have smart meters, except a small handful that specifically requested not to have them. We have invested a significant amount of resources in technology that now allows us to anticipate possible problems with the grid. The electric grid sends us signals about how it’s operating in real time, showing us what possible failures we could experience so that we can correct them before a problem occurs. We are also using mini-drones to identify certain problems that arise. Once the drone shows us what exactly the problem is, we are able to go in with the correct resources to fix it. This allows us to approach day to day issues proactively instead of reactively, saving a lot of time and money, which helps to keep the electricity bills low. On average, we have been investing in Florida around $3 billion per year over the last six years; in 2016, we invested more than $3.5 billion, and in 2017 we plan to invest more than $5 billion. Yet, in the last 10 years, our bills to customers have gone down 14 percent – primarily because the efficiency gained through technology and process improvements provides greater benefits than the cost to invest in it.
Consumer demand is an important driver of infrastructure development and what MasTec undertakes as a company. Telecommunications is a good example because it is not highly regulated like energy or water, and there is a lot of competition. Municipalities want their residents and businesses to have the best services and best internet speeds, so it is not difficult to get permission to build infrastructure. Local governments are also open as to how they deal with telecommunications companies. This is one of the main areas of infrastructure improvement. While the continued roll out of 4G has been a big driver of growth, there has also been a lot of activity in fiber-to-the-home infrastructure. The desire for increased internet speeds means fiber lines are an important product for us. More and more is being doing over the internet, so consumers are demanding higher speed at home. This is driving our business. Companies such as AT&T have been providing normal internet speeds of up to 50 Mbps. However, in the past year, a new product has come on the market, Gigabit Speed, which is 1,000 Mbps. AT&T already has significant infrastructure in the state because it has provided telephone lines for more than 100 years. Over time it has improved lines, eventually building internet infrastructure which has the main backbone of optical fiber lines, with the lateral, coaxial cables connecting homes and business. The next move is improving this with fiber lines to homes and businesses replacing coaxial cables. A lot of money is spent doing this work in Florida. New fiber infrastructure, called fiber-to-home, provides substantial speed improvements. The same demands are transferring over to the wireless space with mobile technology. This is where 5G will come into play, which is being discussed by all the major telecoms providers. It could be starting as early as 2018. This is a huge driver for our business and the infrastructure sector in general.
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three-times that, at 14.7 percent, reaching $105.7 billion.
environment surprising, challenging and exciting.” Matt Bronfman, CEO of Jamestown Properties told Focus: Atlanta. The idea of combining popular retail stores with other attractions, such as high-end restaurants, leisure pursuits and even live concerts is one taking off across the state.