ADSC Magazine recently published an article titled “The Power to Make a Difference.” This article honors the amazing things ADSC members, readers, and constituents have been doing throughout Hurricane Ian restoration efforts.

Irby’s Marketing and Communications Specialist Tina Richardson sat down with ADSC and told them all about Irby’s vast restoration efforts. “Several crews consisting of hundreds of vehicles and linemen were standing by and ready to go days before the storm hit. Once in the field, they immediately assessed and began repairing damage to systems. We know that restoring power as quickly as possible is what matters most to our clients and their customers,” Tina said.

To learn more about Irby’s Hurricane Ian restoration efforts, read the full article HERE.

While expanding clean energy is essential, it is important to note that it would not be possible without first restoring and expanding transmission. It is no secret that the transmission grid is aging; recent natural disasters have shown us that our grid is not as strong as it once was, and it is time for a reboot.

A recently published Forbes article expands on this hot topic of conversation, and is quoted as saying, “We’re looking at a significant expansion of the transmission system. A recent report indicates that it’s at least 60% growth by 2030. We might even need to triple our existing systems by 2050 to meet the larger growing clean electricity demands,” says Maria Robinson, director, grid employment office at the U.S. Department of Energy…”

To learn more about transmission’s role in the race toward clean energy growth, click HERE.

An article written by the Daily Energy Insider dives into Florida’s strategic investments towards electric utility hardening.

With recent costly US storms like Hurricane Ida and Hurricane Sandy, the state of Florida has come to recognize that long-term hardening investments are integral to maintaining the grid, and facilitating the quickest possible return to normalcy after a storm.

In fact, Frank Walker, executive vice president of government and political relations at the Florida Chamber of Commerce, told the Energy Insider that “Florida’s grid stood strong and rebounded quickly from historic weather-related disruptions this season in part because of long-term investments made in hardening efforts.”

Florida Power and Light (FPL), the largest electric utility provider in the state, services around 12 million Floridians. Irby Construction is proud to contract with FPL on various hardening projects all over Florida. From underground, to pole-hardening, and substation preparation work, Irby crews are engaged on FPL hardening projects across the state. 

Click HERE to read more in this insightful article written by the Daily Energy Insider.

The intense heat waves of summer 2022 are further exposing the poor integrity of America’s current power grid.

Utility Dive recently published an insightful article that supports the case for transferring distribution lines underground, as places like Texas are awaiting the impending doom of possible grid outages.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency reports that 62% of all power lines in the country are overhead, and that power outages are 9 times more likely to occur when lines are conducted overhead.

In regards to worker and civilian safety, power line reliability, and resilience, Underground presents many benefits.

Learn more about strategic under-grounding and its background at the article here.

A recent story in the Wall Street Journal reports that companies like Irby are poised to install record amounts of battery storage in the coming year, citing government mandates and declining costs as reasons for significant growth in power storage.

“The U.S., which had less than a gigawatt of large battery installations in 2020—roughly enough to power 350,000 homes for a handful of hours—is on pace to add six gigawatts this year and another nine gigawatts in 2022, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence,” Jennifer Hiller and Katherine Blunt report for the Wall Street Journal. 

California is driving much of the U.S. battery market’s expansion as it races to comply with a 2018 law that requires decarbonization of its power grid by 2045. Other states also have storage mandates or targets, including New York, Virginia and Nevada, according to the U.S. Energy Storage Association.

The story says that Goldman Sachs expects the U.S. market for stationary batteries to grow from about $1 billion in 2020 to $13 billion to $14 billion by 2030.

Read the complete WSJ article here.

Irby Construction is “leading the charge” in battery storage having completed construction of the Manatee BESS earlier this month. Manatee is currently the world’s largest battery energy storage center. Read more about Manatee and see related news coverage here.