The Brief
Duke Energy crews replaced underground cables in downtown St. Petersburg on Wednesday as part of a proactive maintenance.
The specialized, submersible system features a huge network of transformers and cables that are capable of automatically rerouting power during a failure to prevent widespread outages.
The technology is in only two locations across Duke Energy’s 35-county Florida service territory: downtown St. Petersburg and downtown Clearwater.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Deep beneath the bustling streets of downtown St. Petersburg, a massive network of specialized electrical equipment ensures continuous power for the city.
Duke Energy upgrades downtown St. Petersburg
What we know
Duke Energy crews swarmed the area Wednesday to replace aging cables with new ones as a proactive measure.
Thick insulated power cables are fed directly into an underground utility access point beneath the city streets.
“The system kind of self-heals itself,” Torean Savage, a network specialist with Duke Energy, said. “So, if one place goes out of power, there’s another transformer and cables making up for that power, preventing outages or kind of fixing the outage at a faster rate of speed.”
While some above-ground lines have this self-healing technology too, the big deal with this network is it’s protected from the elements and won’t get corroded by water.
Grid reliability history
The backstory
The network has been in downtown St. Pete since the 1950s, replacing the traditional above-ground power lines that have to be a certain distance from public spaces for safety purposes. That’s clearance that downtown St. Pete and many other cities don’t have.
Traditional overhead power lines stretch across a utility pole, illustrating the older style of electrical distribution that requires public clearance.
About half of Duke Energy’s power lines across Florida are underground, and the other half are overhead. Normal underground power lines, though, are different than this network. They can’t get wet and still work, while this submersible system can.
Weatherproofing local communities
What they’re saying
“It’s definitely a game-changer. Like I said, if you’ve been around for these hurricanes and storms going around, it definitely helps with the reliability,” Savage said.
A Duke Energy utility vehicle stands ready on a city street with a massive spool of heavy-duty electrical cable during infrastructure upgrades.
The technology is only in two places, downtown St. Pete and downtown Clearwater, out of the company’s 35-county territory.
“We have hospitals here. We have the airport right here, government buildings. We want to make sure those places are protected,” Savage said.
Expanding the grid
What’s next
Savage says that the company hopes to expand this type of network to other areas.
The Source
The information in this story was gathered from Duke Energy network specialist Torean Savage, who explained how the underground power grid operates.