The Florida Municipal Electric Association this week is hosting the first-ever Florida public power tabletop exercise where a cross-section of Florida public power utilities, along with federal, state, and local partners, will take part in a simulation of a major hurricane impacting Florida.
The 2023 Hurricane & Storm Preparedness Forum will take place on May 17 and May 18.
FMEA is partnering with the American Public Power Association for the exercise, which is taking place under a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security & Emergency Response Cooperative Agreement.
Also joining in the exercise will be nearly 30 federal, state, and local government organizations and Florida public power utilities.
“By working with federal agencies and our national public power association, we are able to offer this unique and first-of-its-kind opportunity to our members,” said Amy Zubaly, Florida Municipal Electric Association Executive Director.
“While Florida public power utilities prepare year-round for disasters, including holding their own city- or utility-wide hurricane exercises, simulating a hurricane in a real-world scenario with real-time responses and immediate feedback with a cross-section of Florida public power utilities and federal, state, and local partners is just another way that Florida’s municipal electric utilities are preparing for hurricane season," she said.
In a recent episode of APPA’s Public Power Now podcast, Zubaly discussed how FMEA and public power utilities in Florida are preparing for the upcoming hurricane season and provided details on the tabletop exercise.
