Thunderproofing Florida: Inside FPL’s High-Voltage Lightning Lab
In a highly specialized corner of Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), engineer Wigberto “Wiggy” Flores-Hernandez is literally charging the state’s reliability. At the Reliability Assurance Center (RAC), home to the renowned Lightning Lab, Flores-Hernandez and his team subject critical equipment to extreme conditions: 20,000 volts and up to 10,000 amps to simulate the strikes Florida’s grid faces in the nation’s lightning capital.“We power up our surge simulator to full capacity and create an artificial lightning strike to test our equipment,” he explains.
“We use twice the voltage and current most utilities elsewhere deploy for testing—but they don’t live with storms like we do in Florida.” The mission is precise and high stakes: ensure transformers, switchgear and even utility vehicles safely channel dangerous surges to ground, protecting line crews and keeping customers’ lights on.
Flores-Hernandez began his FPL career in 2016 at the St. Lucie nuclear plant as a design engineer. Two years later, he moved to the RAC—and into a world of challenges that keeps him “energized” daily. “The great thing about showing up to work is I get to wear different hats. Every day, I test something new,” he says. That versatility is essential at a center that also battles coastal corrosion with a salt fog chamber compressing two years of seaside weathering into three months. “It gives us confidence that equipment installed near the coast will withstand decades of salty air, humidity and extreme conditions,” he adds.
The lab’s reputation extends far beyond Florida. “It’s established itself as one of the industry’s most trusted testing facilities,” says Flores-Hernandez. Securing FPL’s approval has become a coveted benchmark for vendors nationwide—an independent validation of quality and toughness.
The RAC’s most exacting work comes when certifying bucket trucks for live-line operations on 500-kV transmission corridors. “I apply large amounts of electricity to the truck’s arm to confirm the current flows safely to ground,” he says. Lineworkers often attend these demonstrations as part of their training, building trust in equipment they’ll rely on around lines carrying 500,000 volts.
Not every test happens indoors. Substation grounding evaluations require outdoor setups, favorable weather windows, heavy logistics and rigorous safety protocols—days of preparation before a single amp is unleashed.
Beyond the lab, Flores-Hernandez stays grounded in his community. He coaches his 7-year-old son’s recreational baseball team in Jupiter and competes in a bowling league, maintaining a 200 average. What drives him is simple and profound. “Everything we do here comes back to the people we serve,” he says. “Whether it’s a family turning on the lights after a storm or a lineworker confident on a high-voltage line, our testing ensures that when it matters most, the equipment works exactly as it should.”
