Energy provider Duke Energy touted its self-healing grid technology, and other elements of its grid hardening strategy for helping reduce outage impacts and enable swift power restorations for customers in Florida in the wake of 2024’s record-tying hurricane season.
Three hurricanes – Debby, Helene, and Milton – struck the Sunshine State in 2024, tying the record for the most hurricanes to make landfall in Florida in a single season. In a press release following the landfall of hurricanes Helene and Milton, Duke said that its self-healing technology and other elements of its grid hardening strategy helped prevent more than 300,000 customer outages, saving those customers more than 300 million minutes of total outage time.
Comparable to a GPS navigation system that detects an accident and adjusts your route accordingly, self-healing grid technology swiftly identifies power outages and reroutes electricity to restore service more rapidly for customers when disruptions occur.
This technology can pinpoint the source of an outage and reduce the number of impacted customers by as much as 75%, frequently restoring power in under a minute. Duke says that about 77% of their customers currently benefit directly from self-healing grid technology.
“With storms increasing in frequency and intensity, Duke Energy Florida’s Storm Protection Plan, year-round infrastructure work and preparedness efforts are critical to our ability to respond quickly and safely,” said Melissa Seixas, Duke Energy Florida state president. “We’re working around the clock to improve reliability for our customers, strengthen the grid against severe weather and enhance our response after a major storm.”
Self-healing grid technology is a component of the larger concept of grid hardening, which is a comprehensive method of protecting power grids from damages such as those that occur during natural disasters.
Other elements of grid hardening include:
- Improving the strength of power lines, poles, transformers, and substations
- Controlling the growth of trees and other vegetation around power lines
- Burying power lines to protect them from wind, ice, and other surface-level threats
Natural disasters pose significant threats to energy systems, often causing widespread outages and costly damages. Grid hardening mitigates these risks by:
- Reducing Outage Duration: Hardened grids are less susceptible to damage, enabling quicker restoration of power after a disruption. For instance, underground power lines are less vulnerable to wind and debris during hurricanes.
- Enhancing System Resilience: By building redundancy into the grid, utilities can maintain service continuity, ensuring that critical facilities such as hospitals, emergency shelters, and water treatment plants remain operational during disasters.
- Protecting Public Safety: Preventing power outages reduces the risk of secondary hazards, such as fires from downed lines or traffic accidents caused by non-functional signals.
- Minimizing Economic Impact: Power disruptions during natural disasters can lead to significant economic losses. Grid hardening helps maintain business operations and reduces the financial burden on affected communities.
While grid hardening offers numerous benefits, implementing these measures presents several challenges:
- High Costs: Upgrading infrastructure and deploying advanced technologies require significant financial investment. Utilities often seek funding through rate adjustments, which can be contentious.
- Time-Intensive Implementation: Comprehensive grid hardening efforts can take years to complete, delaying immediate benefits.
- Balancing Priorities: Utilities must carefully prioritize projects based on risk assessments and budget constraints, which can leave some areas vulnerable.
- Regulatory and Community Support: Securing regulatory approval and community buy-in is critical for successful implementation.
The Future of Grid Hardening
The need for resilient energy infrastructure continues to grow. The future of grid hardening lies in:
- Integration with Renewable Energy: Hardening efforts will increasingly incorporate renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, ensuring that the transition to clean energy aligns with resilience goals.
- Enhanced Predictive Capabilities: Advances in AI and machine learning will improve utilities’ ability to predict and prevent failures before they occur.
- Expanded Use of Microgrids: Microgrids will play a pivotal role in enhancing local resilience, particularly in remote or disaster-prone areas.
- Collaborative Approaches: Utilities, governments, and communities will work together to fund and implement grid hardening measures, ensuring equitable access to resilient energy systems.
How GPRS Can Help with Your Infrastructure Projects
GPRS is the nation’s largest company offering above and below-ground existing conditions documentation. We Intelligently Visualize The Built World® to keep your projects on time, on budget, and safe.
GPRS employs advanced technologies like ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electromagnetic (EM) locating to locate utilities underground, as well as post tension cable, rebar, and conduits and more within concrete slabs.
We geolocate and digitize these findings and deliver them to you through SiteMap® (patent pending), our project & facility management application that provides accurate existing conditions documentation to protect your assets and people.
Available 24/7 from any computer, tablet, or smartphone, SiteMap® is a single source of truth for the critical data that allows you to protect your infrastructure from damage, whether you’re hardening a power grid or just conducting regular maintenance.
What can we help you visualize?
Frequently Asked Questions
Does GPRS locate PVC piping and other non-conductive utilities?
Yes, our SIM-certified Project Managers utilize a suite of infrastructure visualization tools, including ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electromagnetic (EM) locating, to find all types of subsurface materials. These tools compensate for each other’s weak points, allowing us to create an accurate, complete picture of your job site.
Will I need to mark out the utilities that GPRS locates?
No, our Project Managers locate and mark all utilities for you when conducting a utility locate. We have a variety of tools and markers we use to highlight the locations of utilities, underground storage tanks (USTs), and other buried items.
