An army of 50,000 restoration workers from across the U.S. and Canada were working on Florida’s power grid at ENR press time on Sept. 12, according to an Edison Electric Institute estimate. Nearly 65% of the state’s electric customers had lost power at the peak of Hurricane Irma’s slam into the southeastern U.S., including 72% of Florida Power & Light customers and 73% of Duke Energy’s.
FPL said it had little damage to generation plants, but it is assessing damage after reports of multiple tornados, said Eric Silagy, FPL’s CEO. The 1,250-MW Riviera Beach gas-fired plant, near Palm Beach, had to be shut due to a huge influx of debris being removed from intakes.