The Key to Keeping the Lights On: Artificial Intelligence

After Hurricane Irma tore through South Florida in 2017 and cut power to more than six million people, it took 10 days for Florida Power & Light --the state's largest electrical utility--to get the lights back on. That was a big improvement from 2005, when recovery from Hurricane Wilma took 18 days. Investments in technology paid off. Now, FPL is looking to reduce recovery time further, by harnessing artificial intelligence, sensors and drones to better pinpoint outages and decide how best to fix them. "After a storm, we want data," says Michael Putt, the company's smart grid and innovation director.