Hurricane Debby NASA Image
Florida’s Electrical Grid Resilience
The resilience of Florida’s electrical grid is again being tested as the United States enters the peak of hurricane season, especially as the state most prone to hurricanes. Recently, Hurricane Debby landed on the Big Bend coast of Florida as a Category 1, and though it was later downgraded to a tropical storm, it still flooded the state with historical rainfall records. President Biden has sent federal aid to Florida after declaring it a major disaster while the same region is still recovering from last year’s Hurricane Idalia.
Since 1980, tropical cyclones and severe storms have cost over $300 billion in damages in Florida, comprising over 90 percent of the costs of natural disasters there. These hurricanes are growing to be more intense and unpredictable, thus becoming expensive. The current hurricane season is expected to be extremely active due to weather factors such as warmer sea surface temperatures and wind patterns in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts that 90 percent of this year’s hurricanes will be above normal, with 17 more potential storms brewing, all of which have the potential to become hurricanes.
Stronger hurricanes pose a serious threat to aging U.S. energy infrastructure for both the people and the military. As the current electrical grid was not built for the present-day climate, old transformers, wires, and utility poles are all above ground and subject to exposure. The impact on people is severe. For example, patients who need critical health support and the elderly are extremely vulnerable to long-term power outages, especially in the summer heat. Not only do power failures endanger citizens, but these hurricanes also negatively impact U.S. national security due to the amount of military bases in Florida. Tyndall Air Force base, crucial to training pilots and conducting live combat exercises, is still undergoing a $4.7 billion rebuild six years after being hit by Hurricane Michael.
To mitigate these damages and improve Florida’s electrical grid resilience, lawmakers require electric companies to implement policies such as increasing maintenance, bolstering critical infrastructure, and burying power lines. The path to harden the electrical grid is not easy, as public utilities companies are often hampered by supply chain disruptions of key electrical components, inflation, and continuous destruction by hurricanes have led one in five companies to cancel their projects. What has made improvements possible is a collective governmental effort to keep maintenance regulations and disaster response times well-coordinated. Florida requires an eight-year cycle of inspections for utility poles as well as strict vegetation maintenance rules. This year, FP&L, a leading electric company in Florida, has preemptively buried water-resistant power lines serving critical areas such as hospitals.
There has also been major funding by the state and federal government to improve electrical grid resiliency. Through the Resilient Florida Grant Program, Governor DeSantis is aiming to help in the recovery and strengthening of local communities impacted by flooding. Billions are being invested in upgrading existing infrastructure, improving interagency crisis response, and maintaining a world-class flood data and modeling repository and technical center. After Debby, highways, businesses, and airports remained open in the Florida Keys, demonstrating how the state is growing more resilient against power disruptions and recovering faster.
Another way to improve resiliency is to divide the grid into smaller segments. Microgrids are self-sufficient energy systems that can support smaller locations such as a college campus, hospital complex, or neighborhood. They are more easily powered by renewable energy sources due to their smaller size and can be integrated into the main power grid, unlike backup generators that only operate in isolation. Housing, utility, and microgrid companies are teaming up in Lakeland, Florida to develop a microgrid comprising of a central battery storage unit using solar power.
On the military side, efforts to rebuild Tyndall Air Force base include implementing its microgrid to ensure that defense functions remain operational should there be power outages. This is part of the Department of Defense’s larger plan to make 90 percent of its key global military bases energy independent. Additionally, functioning military bases in the hurricane aftermath can aid in citizen recovery work. They can serve as headquarters for the state or Federal Emergency Management Agency during times of crisis.
As hurricanes become more destructive and frequent, the U.S. electrical grid needs to be continually hardened against flooding and strong winds. Aside from recovery efforts, the U.S. government should also invest in pre-emptive work that improves overall resilience to ensure that the people and military bases do not suffer tremendous damage.
