MIMO ENERGIZED BY POWER GRID IMPROVEMENTS
By Debby Stander
In late May of this year MiMo and adjacent neighborhoods were invaded by a veritable battalion of trucks, heavy equipment and workers in hard hats – all deployed by FPL to upgrade the power grid in the area.
The project is part of a comprehensive Miami-Dade County 2016-2018 storm hardening strategy to increase storm readiness and ensure the delivery of reliable energy for consumers year round.
For a little over a week, power lines serving the side streets leading off Biscayne Boulevard from approximately NE 72nd Terrace to NE 77th Street as well as all along the length of NE 6th Court and within the community of Belle Meade were given a major overhaul.
System improvements included upgrading power lines, replacing wooden transmission structures, repairing leaning poles and inspecting all poles to ensure they meet current standards for strength. In addition, FPL “smart grid” technology – which uses automated switches to detect and prevent power issues before they result in outages — was installed on poles in strategic locations. Power lines were inspected using infrared cameras to detect weaknesses and lines were strengthened where needed. Tree limbs and vegetation growing near power lines – a main cause of power flickers and outages – were also cut back and cleared.
The MiMo Biscayne Association heartily applauds these FPL initiatives and would like to extend its heartiest thanks to FPL and its partners within Miami Dade-County and the City of Miami for the improvements to our area!
Photo courtesy of Avra Jain