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Pinellas County Reliability Program

Pinellas County Reliability Program

About the Pinellas County Reliability Program

We’re improving the electric grid in Pinellas County to make it stronger, smarter and more resilient. Whether it’s preparing for powerful storms before they happen or planning ahead for the growing power demands in the county, we are working to help ensure power is there when you need it. 

Projects in and around the county will help strengthen the electric grid, meet the growing demand for energy used by homes and businesses in the area and help minimize the risk of customer outages.

We’re:
  • Increasing energy capacity throughout the area 
  • Constructing new lines to provide more flexibility in serving customers
  • Upgrading and installing modern equipment 
  • Maintaining easements, including vegetation management to reduce damage to power lines 

Pinellas County Is Growing!

Between 2016 and 2021, Pinellas County's population increased by approximately 8% to nearly 1 million people, with an additional influx of 12 to 15 million visitors annually. Pinellas' population grew by more than 15,000 people from 2020 to 2023. Population forecasts show a continued trend that adds about 30,000 people every five years through 2040.

With population growth comes more businesses, schools, homes and service – all increasing the demand for electricity. In addition to meeting this growing demand, Duke is also committed to creating a system with improved reliability.

Aerial view of downtown St. Petersburg

Pinellas County Projects

Pinellas County Reliability Projects Map
Download PDF.

Current and Planned Projects

  • Disston to 40th Street‌

    We are upgrading an existing 3.5-mile underground transmission line in the Disston Heights community. Construction will begin in 2025.
    Learn more.

  • Disston to Largo‌

    This is a planned upgrade to an existing 11.5-mile transmission line from the Disston Substation to the Largo Substation. Construction will begin in 2025.
    Learn more.

  • 32nd Street Substation

    Upgrades are underway at this northeast Gandy area substation. The work will be completed in 2025.

  • Largo Substation Upgrades

    Work will begin in 2025 to add modern substation equipment to strengthen reliability in Largo, Fla., and surrounding areas. The project will be completed in mid-2026.

Completed Projects

  • Kenwood

    An upgrade an existing 3.3-mile transmission line in the St. Petersburg Kenwood area was completed in spring 2024.

  • Bayboro

    A new transmission substation was completed in late 2021 using state-of-the-art technology.

Other Initiatives

Self-healing Technology 

We are installing smart-thinking technology that automatically identifies outages and quickly reroutes power to restore customers faster.

Pole and Line Construction and Upgrades

We are helping improve the reliability and capability of the electric grid by increasing the capacity of our energy system and constructing new energy pathways.

Targeted Undergrounding 

We’re strategically identifying and placing our most outage-prone lines underground.

Vegetation-based Reliability Improvements

We routinely trim and remove hazardous trees and manage other vegetation to improve reliability.

Smart-thinking Grid

We're building a smart-thinking grid that will help increase efficiency and quality of service.

Advanced Communication and Monitoring

We're building an advanced communication network to monitor the health of essential equipment, optimize the power grid and restore power faster.

Storm Preparation

We’re continually making preparations for Florida’s storms by identifying and mitigating vulnerable equipment and facilities to help avoid outages.

Infrastructure Security & Resilience

We are investing in technology to guard against cyber attacks for a safer and more secure energy grid. A stronger electric grid also helps minimize or even avoid disruptive outages during storms.

Watch Videos to Discover More

See how transmission powers your community and how we're working to provide safe and reliable energy.
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Contact Us

FLTransmissionEnhancements @duke-energy.com
877.840.0101
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