Wigberto “Wiggy” Flores-Hernandez, a senior engineer at Florida Power & Light Company’s (FPL) Reliability Assurance Center (RAC), plays a key role in testing and verifying the resilience of FPL’s electrical grid equipment against Florida’s challenging weather. The RAC is recognized as one of the utility industry’s most specialized facilities, where engineers like Flores-Hernandez ensure that equipment can withstand harsh conditions such as salty coastal air and frequent lightning strikes.
Flores-Hernandez began his career with FPL at the St. Lucie nuclear plant in 2016 before moving to the RAC in 2018. His responsibilities include running tests on transformers using simulated lightning strikes of up to 1,400 amps and ensuring bucket trucks can safely handle high-voltage situations.
“The great thing about showing up to work is I get the opportunity to wear different hats,” said Flores-Hernandez. “It’s exciting, every day I get to test different things.”
A central feature of the RAC is its lightning lab, which simulates real-world conditions faced by electric equipment in Florida—a state that leads the nation in lightning strikes. According to Flores-Hernandez, “We power up our surge simulator to full capacity and then create an artificial lightning strike to test our equipment. We use 20,000 volts and 10,000 amps of electricity — that’s twice the voltage and electrical current that most utilities in other states typically use for testing, but they don’t have to deal with lightning storms like we do here in Florida.”
The lab has gained recognition beyond state borders. “The lab has established itself as one of the industry’s most trusted testing facilities,” said Flores-Hernandez. “When vendors develop new products, earning FPL’s approval becomes a coveted industry benchmark that validates quality nationwide.”
Other advanced tools at the RAC include a salt fog chamber that replicates two years of coastal weathering within three months. This chamber helps ensure equipment installed near Florida’s coastline can endure long-term exposure to salty air and humidity.
“The salt fog chamber is an essential testing asset,” said Flores-Hernandez. “It gives us confidence that when we install equipment near Florida’s coastline, it will withstand decades of salty air, humidity and extreme conditions that our customers depend on us to navigate. This accelerated testing helps us maintain the industry-leading service reliability our communities expect from us.”
Testing also extends to certifying bucket trucks for live-line work on high-voltage transmission lines—work critical for both crew safety and system reliability.
“I apply large amounts of electricity to the arm of the truck to check that the electrical current flows safely to the ground as it should,” said Flores-Hernandez. “Many people, especially newcomers to the field, need to feel confident working around high-voltage power lines that carry 500,000 volts of electricity. We sometimes bring lineworkers here as part of their training so they can witness the testing and see that everything works safely.”
Some procedures require outdoor testing with significant preparation and coordination due to safety requirements.
Flores-Hernandez says his dedication extends beyond work; he coaches his son’s baseball team in Jupiter and participates in a bowling league.
“Everything we do here comes back to the people we serve,” said Flores-Hernandez. “Whether it’s a family turning on their lights after a storm or a lineworker feeling confident on a high-voltage line, our testing ensures that when it matters most, the equipment works exactly as it should. That’s what drives me — knowing that our work in the lab directly protects our crews and helps ensure we provide reliable power to the communities we serve.”
