- New facility will provide additional training location to
teammates that play a key role in upgrading and maintaing
critical power grid infrastructure across Florida
ST.
PETERSBURG, Fla., Aug. 20,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Duke Energy joined
community leaders in Sumter County
to celebrate the groundbreaking of the company's new Wildwood
Training Center, a state-of-the-art facility that will support the
teams and systems that play a vital role in powering Florida communities.
The announcement event included remarks from company leaders and
elected officials, as well as a ceremonial groundbreaking to
celebrate and reinforce a shared commitment to supporting the
economic vitality of the region.
Wildwood Training Center will help the company expand its
training of transmission craft and technical workers who are
responsible for making improvements and upgrades to Duke Energy's
infrastructure to meet the growing needs of Florida. The new facility will include indoor
training classrooms and equipment training spaces, along with an
outdoor training area with a training substation.
Beyond keeping the power flowing to homes and businesses, craft
and technical workers – such as transmission and distribution line,
substation and relay technicians – play a fundamental role in power
grid improvement projects that are helping modernize and strengthen
Duke Energy's system. This includes protection against storms and
other impacts, making the grid more reliable and resilient, as well
as integrating new, renewable energy.
"The power grid is a massive, complex system that works 24/7 to
provide reliable power to homes, businesses, hospitals, public
safety and school buildings across Florida," said Jason
Williams, Duke Energy Florida senior vice president of power
grid operations. "Our power grid workers are invaluable and are the
first to respond in the aftermath of storms. They play an
incredibly important role in how we are preparing and building a
smarter energy future for our customers and how we are supporting
the tremendous growth in Florida."
The company plans to complete the new training facility in
2025.
"The city of Wildwood is
thrilled to be part of today's ceremony and equally as excited for
what's to come from Duke Energy, its new training facility and the
hardworking employees who will be using this building," said Mayor
Ed Wolf, City of Wildwood. "We are honored to become a
training hub for such an important trade, and we look forward to
continuing to work alongside businesses like Duke Energy so we can
continue meeting the unique needs of our growing community."
Duke Energy Florida
Duke Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns 12,300
megawatts of energy capacity, supplying electricity to 2 million
residential, commercial and industrial customers across a
13,000-square-mile service area in Florida.
Duke Energy
Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in
Charlotte, N.C., is one of
America's largest energy holding companies. The company's electric
utilities serve 8.4 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio
and Kentucky, and collectively own
54,800 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas utilities
serve 1.7 million customers in North
Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky.
Duke Energy is executing an ambitious clean energy transition,
keeping reliability, affordability and accessibility at the
forefront as the company works toward net-zero methane emissions
from its natural gas business by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions
from electricity generation by 2050. The company is investing in
major electric grid upgrades and cleaner generation, including
expanded energy storage, renewables, natural gas and nuclear.
More information is available at duke-energy.com and
the Duke Energy News Center. Follow Duke Energy
on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook,
and visit illumination for stories about the people and
innovations powering our energy transition.
Contact: Audrey Stasko
Media line: 800.559.3853
Twitter:
@DE_AudreyS
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/duke-energy-florida-breaks-ground-on-new-transmission-training-center-in-sumter-county-to-support-growing-workforce-infrastructure-projects-responsible-for-delivering-reliable-power-302226801.html
SOURCE Duke Energy