• New facility will provide additional training location to teammates that play a key role in upgrading and maintaing critical power grid infrastructure across Florida

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Aug. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Duke Energy joined community leaders in Sumter County to celebrate the groundbreaking of the company's new Wildwood Training Center, a state-of-the-art facility that will support the teams and systems that play a vital role in powering Florida communities.

The announcement event included remarks from company leaders and elected officials, as well as a ceremonial groundbreaking to celebrate and reinforce a shared commitment to supporting the economic vitality of the region.

Wildwood Training Center will help the company expand its training of transmission craft and technical workers who are responsible for making improvements and upgrades to Duke Energy's infrastructure to meet the growing needs of Florida. The new facility will include indoor training classrooms and equipment training spaces, along with an outdoor training area with a training substation.

Beyond keeping the power flowing to homes and businesses, craft and technical workers – such as transmission and distribution line, substation and relay technicians – play a fundamental role in power grid improvement projects that are helping modernize and strengthen Duke Energy's system. This includes protection against storms and other impacts, making the grid more reliable and resilient, as well as integrating new, renewable energy.

"The power grid is a massive, complex system that works 24/7 to provide reliable power to homes, businesses, hospitals, public safety and school buildings across Florida," said Jason Williams, Duke Energy Florida senior vice president of power grid operations. "Our power grid workers are invaluable and are the first to respond in the aftermath of storms. They play an incredibly important role in how we are preparing and building a smarter energy future for our customers and how we are supporting the tremendous growth in Florida."

The company plans to complete the new training facility in 2025.

"The city of Wildwood is thrilled to be part of today's ceremony and equally as excited for what's to come from Duke Energy, its new training facility and the hardworking employees who will be using this building," said Mayor Ed Wolf, City of Wildwood. "We are honored to become a training hub for such an important trade, and we look forward to continuing to work alongside businesses like Duke Energy so we can continue meeting the unique needs of our growing community."

Duke Energy Florida

Duke Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns 12,300 megawatts of energy capacity, supplying electricity to 2 million residential, commercial and industrial customers across a 13,000-square-mile service area in Florida.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. The company's electric utilities serve 8.4 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 54,800 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas utilities serve 1.7 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky.

Duke Energy is executing an ambitious clean energy transition, keeping reliability, affordability and accessibility at the forefront as the company works toward net-zero methane emissions from its natural gas business by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions from electricity generation by 2050. The company is investing in major electric grid upgrades and cleaner generation, including expanded energy storage, renewables, natural gas and nuclear.

More information is available at duke-energy.com and the Duke Energy News Center. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook, and visit illumination for stories about the people and innovations powering our energy transition.

Contact: Audrey Stasko

Media line: 800.559.3853

Twitter: @DE_AudreyS

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SOURCE Duke Energy