Harnessing Sunshine: How FPL Engineers Bring Power and Hope After Storms
When hurricanes barrel through Florida, they leave behind more than downed trees and flooded streets—they disrupt lives. For more than 100 years, Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has worked tirelessly to bring the lights back on. But with every storm, the company does more than restore power; it learns, adapts, and innovates to serve its communities better.
One of the people leading that effort is Charles Leitner, an engineer with FPL’s Information Technology Emergency Response Team. His story is proof that even in the darkest hours, a little creativity—and a lot of teamwork—can spark powerful solutions.Leitner still remembers the morning after Hurricane Ian in 2022, when he stepped outside a hotel in Punta Gorda. The storm had torn through the town with Category 4 force. “I had never seen ground zero of a hurricane before,” he said. But he wasn’t there just to witness the damage—he was there to help rebuild.
Leitner and his colleagues were deployed to operate a Storm Pod, a mobile command center housed in a shipping container. These pods serve as hubs where field crews can check in, communicate, and coordinate with the FPL Command Center. Pre-positioned before storms, they allow thousands of workers—many traveling from across the country—to get to work quickly.
“We need to be in the middle of the action,” Leitner explained. “Our crews depend on reliable communications, and these pods give them a base to reconnect and start restoring power right away.”
For years, Storm Pods relied on generators that often took hours to arrive, delaying operations. Leitner couldn’t help but wonder if there was a faster, smarter way. “In the early 2000s, it took more than a week to set up these sites. Later, we reduced that to a day or two. But I kept asking myself, can’t we go even faster?”
The answer came in an unexpected moment—when the skies cleared after Ian. Feeling the warmth of the sun, Leitner thought, why not use solar energy?
Working with his supervisor, Steve Greenstein, who suggested switching the pods from AC to DC power, Leitner added solar panels to one of the units ahead of the 2024 hurricane season. The change was game-changing: with renewable energy, the pods could power up immediately, without waiting for generators.
That season, during Hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton, Leitner’s solar-powered pod proved its worth. It stayed connected around the clock, helping crews restore power faster and keeping communities informed and safe.
For Florida families, innovations like this mean more than faster restoration times—they mean security, resilience, and hope in the face of nature’s strongest storms. As Leitner put it, “We’ve been growing and changing every year. With each storm, we get better.”
In a state where hurricanes are a way of life, turning sunlight into strength isn’t just smart engineering—it’s a reminder that even after the storm, brighter days are always ahead.
