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FPL Touts Top Reliability Ratings
In a filing with the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC), Florida Power & Light (FLP) Co., a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Fla.-based FPL Group, Inc., reported outstanding service reliability in 2009 as well as outlined plans for continued investment in reliability and storm preparedness this year.

FPL customers, on average, experienced 82.4 minutes without power over the year, which is 46% better than the 2008 national average (the most recent data available). The average annual number of outages that FPL customers experienced improved to 1.40 in 2009, while the company’s average restoration time of 59 minutes per outage outperformed all major utilities’ 2008 performance nationwide.

One of the most frequent causes of distribution outages is vegetation coming into contact with power lines. To help reduce and prevent outages and flickers, FPL cleared vegetation from more than 12,000 miles of distribution power lines and all transmission corridors last year. Overall, FPL invested more than $100 million in distribution reliability programs, including vegetation management, priority feeders, and overhead line inspections. In 2010, FPL plans to clear vegetation along approximately 13,000 miles of distribution power lines and to maintain a similar level of funding for distribution reliability programs as in 2009. In 2009, FPL invested $53 million to execute storm preparedness efforts, which included inspecting approximately 139,000 distribution poles, performing climbing inspections on 16,500 transmission structures, upgrading 3,200 transmission structures from wood to concrete or steel, and replacing more than 1,000 ceramic post insulators with polymer post insulators. In 2010, FPL plans to inspect at least another one-eighth of its distribution poles and one-sixth of its transmission structures. The projected cost of inspections and associated follow-up work this year is estimated at $68 million to $78 million.

For more in-depth analysis on the electric utility’s performance as well as future infrastructure plans, visit the company’s Web site.

Rack-mount UPS
Tripp Lite recently expanded its line of SmartPro Advanced Line-Interactive UPS Systems with a new high-capacity rack-mount model. The SMART3000RMXL2U UPS provides mission-critical equipment with power protection plus enhanced power management in 2U of rack space, according to the company. The unit supports loads up to 3,000VA/2,880W, and offers high-efficiency operation, which reduces direct electricity costs and BTU emissions. According to the company, individually controllable load banks support remote reboot or automated load shedding, and advanced line-interactive automatic voltage regulation (AVR) corrects brownouts and overvoltages without consuming battery power. USB and DB9 communication ports, free PowerAlert software and optional SNMPWEBCARD provide monitoring, reporting and logging of all site and UPS operational conditions, and runtime is expandable with optional external battery packs. For more information, visit the company’s Web site.



UPS for emergency lighting
The newest addition to the Synthesis family of uninterruptible power supplies from Chloride Systems, the CH2 Series is designed for emergency lighting applications. Available in four capacity ratings (600VA, 1,000VA, 1,500VA and 2,000VA), the product harnesses double-conversion, continuous-duty UPS technology. Features include an automatic battery monitoring system, main input and output circuit breakers, and remote communication capabilities. According to the company, in addition to the standard UL 924 90-minute battery run time listing, the new series is available with a UL 924 “Auxiliary Lighting and Power” listing, which is available for all four capacity ratings with battery run times of 10 or 20 minutes. The series also allows for up to 12 single-pole output circuit breakers (without trip alarm) and up to six single-pole output circuit breakers (with trip alarm) for load distribution. For more information, visit the company’s Web site.

Electric West 2010
The Electric West Show, to be held March 16-18, 2009 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, is the perfect place to brush up on the latest power quality and reliability topics — and earn continuing education credits in the process. Geared toward electrical contractors, consulting & specifying engineers, electricians, and plant facility personnel, the conference program will offer the following power quality seminars, presented by industry experts such as: Doug Dorr, EPRI-PEAC; Andreas Eberhard, Power Standards Lab; and Vladimir Basch, Independent Consultant.

• Intelligent Grid 2.0
• Understanding Harmonics and Harmonic Distortion
• Designing High-Availability Infrastructures
• Surge Protection Devices: A to Z
• The Future of PQ Monitoring
• Energy Storage Technologies and Techniques
• Ask the Experts PQ Panel

For more information, visit our Web site, or click here to register.

FREE Expo Pass -- Click here to receive your complimentary pass to Electric West, a $55 value!