The trucks, equipped with their own sound systems, are also used for media and employee briefings, which are held under their foldout awnings. "They were really a great success with our customers," Contesse said of the trucks. The charging station also has a hot spot customers can use to check and send emails and browse the web so they can "go on about their lives as usual," Contesse said.įPL has four of the mobile command trucks, which run on biodiesel, supporting the company's commitment to clean energy.Ī few months ago, FPL sent two of the trucks to Miami-Dade County to help restore power after several tornadoes hit. Onboard is a charging station with 12 outlets, which is set up outside so customers without power can re-energize their phones, tablets and other digital devices. The command center truck has cameras on top to help repair crews better assess damage nearby. "It's instant, and it has really created a lot of efficiencies," Contesse said. The truck includes access to a computerized system for checking power outages meter by meter in a disaster area, giving FPL and its repair crews more accurate and timely information to help restore electricity to customers faster.Ī tool developed by its engineers allows FPL workers to ping every smart meter it has installed to see if a home or business has power, rather than relying on calls from unhappy customers. The truck is designed to improve coordination with first-responders in the field, and it's a way to meet with customers face-to-face in their time of need. The substations are important because they are what takes the power down to the street so it can be sent to homes and businesses.Ĭontesse arrived in FPL's Mobile Command Center, which the company usually only deploys when there are big storms or other major events. Using a robot can also be a safer way of making damage assessments when roads are blocked or under water.įPL has tested an amphibious robot that can even work in flooded substations. "Substations aren't staffed all the time," Contesse said. The robot has primarily been designed to work in remote substations so it can keep an eye on FPL's equipment and help assess damage when those stations are hit by storms. The small, boxy remote-controlled robot, with two cameras that look like eyes, is always a hit with audiences, especially kids, she said. The utility, with 4.8 million customers in 35 counties, is testing out robots and drones to improve its response to power outages.Īs part of a roadshow to bring awareness to the new technologies, Florencia Contesse, a senior communications specialist for FPL, brought some of them to the Naples Daily News parking lot Thursday. is looking a little more futuristic these days. Naval Air Station Point Mugu in California is the West Coast home base for the Triton program, with three other sites outside the continental United States also selected, the Navy said.Florida Power & Light Co. The Navy said existing drone facilities were already in place at NAS Jacksonville, making it the most affordable option of the three. Navy: New Task Group Greyhound hits the seas out of Mayport and Norfolk bases Assessment results showed no significant environmental impact at any of the three locations, but the major factor in choosing Mayport was financial. The Navy selected Mayport after completing an environmental assessment to analyze the impact on the communities surrounding the three potential bases. It's going to have a lot of fancy stuff in it." The nice thing is that because of the altitudes it attains, it allows us to peer a little bit further into places than we are accustomed to. "We are truly covering all 24 time zones," Conlan said, not getting specific about its surveillance capabilities that include a nose-mounted sensor pod. The morning flight from its California base was a "very small hint at its capability." Triton drones can survey 2.7 million square miles in a single mission, used for surveillance and search-and-rescues. The 47.6-foot-long aircraft weighs just over 32,000 pounds fully fueled and can fly for more than 24 hours at altitudes higher than 10 miles, with an operational range of 9,430 miles, according to the Navy. Mayport beat out Naval Air Station Key West and the NASA Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., in 2017 to become the East Coast Forward Operating Base for the MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft System, according to the Navy. "It truly is at the forefront of naval aviation and the direction we are going with intelligence surveillance reconnaissance aircraft." "It will bring a number of folks I have had in California for the last couple of years to be homeported here as well to support," Conlan added. military's largest drone that we fly, and it's now homeported in Jacksonville, and that's the excitement for the local area," he said, with the 130.9-foot-wingspan drone behind him on the runway.
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