When Severe Weather Strikes, Resilience Matters.

Digital Journal recently interviewed S&C's Joe Matamoros about how extreme weather affects utilities and why targeted grid modernization investments are critical to keeping the power on.

Here is an excerpt:

“Utilities that have deployed advanced automation and intelligent distribution technologies have shown an ability to limit the scope and duration of outages during major weather events.

Florida offers a good example

In 2005, Hurricane Wilma, a Category 3 storm, left roughly 3 million customers without power for 18 days. Restoration efforts were prolonged due to the scale and spread of system damage. Recognizing this, the state’s largest utility made sustained investments in grid hardening, automation, and system intelligence across its distribution system.

In 2024, Florida experienced three landfalling hurricanes in a single season. By any objective measure, the 2024 hurricane season presented a more demanding test of the grid. Yet customer outcomes improved dramatically. Smart grid and automation technologies, along with physical infrastructure hardening, helped prevent nearly 900,000 customer outages across the three storms.

Restoration also progressed rapidly despite severe conditions. Power was essentially restored within one day after Hurricane Debby, within three days after Hurricane Helene, the strongest hurricane on record for the region, and within five days after Hurricane Milton, even as millions of customers across Florida experienced disruption.

Resilience investments deliver

These results demonstrate more than a faster response. They show that resilience translates into more reliable outcomes for customers.”

Read the full interview here:

Q&A: How El Niño Conditions and Extreme Weather Are Impacting Utilities