Melissa Seixas, State President, Duke Energy Florida

In an interview with Invest:, Melissa Seixas, Florida president of Duke Energy, discussed Orlando’s infrastructure resilience, partnerships with economic development groups, and preparation for rapid growth in energy demand. “We cannot accomplish our mission without sincere, human-centered engagement.”

What role does the energy sector, and specifically Duke Energy, play in supporting Greater Orlando’s growth as a business and innovation hub?

The Orlando and Orange County region presents a tremendous opportunity for growth and innovation. From the long-standing partnerships that Duke Energy’s legacy companies have maintained with local organizations, there is already a strong foundation. We’ve worked with the Orlando Economic Partnership, several prominent chambers of commerce and the economic development nonprofit, Prospera, to help position the region for future success.

In addition, our collaboration with the University of Central Florida on innovation gives us a springboard into what’s ahead. We believe we are well poised to accelerate our joint efforts and engage in the region’s development at scale.

In 2025, the Orlando Economic Partnership brought a group of local leaders to Charlotte, North Carolina, to explore a city with similar growth aspirations. Since Duke Energy is headquartered in Charlotte, we were proud to host the event and deepen the relationship. It highlighted the strength of our partnership and how ready we are to continue moving forward at full speed.

How do partnerships with local economic development organizations support your site readiness efforts for industrial development in Florida?

Our Site Readiness Program, led by our economic development team, goes beyond simply evaluating a location from an energy infrastructure perspective. It takes a comprehensive view of how a site aligns with broader growth goals.

That includes transportation options, such as interstates, airports, and rail access. We also consider the local talent pipeline, from K–12 through state colleges and universities. These elements are critical when identifying and preparing viable sites.

We serve a large and geographically diverse area in Florida, from the Orlando and Tampa Bay markets through the Nature Coast and into Polk County. These are some of the fastest-growing parts of our footprint, and our program evaluates properties across that entire region.

We then work closely with the economic development teams in each municipality to market those properties and help them attract the right kind of industrial investment.

What are the biggest energy challenges in Florida, and how is Duke Energy preparing for demands such as data centers?

I never thought I would talk this much about data centers. They’ve emerged quickly in Florida as demand for artificial intelligence grows. Just a few years ago, they weren’t even on our radar.

Large-scale customers, especially in the hyperscale category, are now evaluating Florida, partly because of how well the state handles emergencies. After years of frequent storms, Florida has developed one of the strongest emergency preparedness systems in the country, from state through county levels.

Customers recognize that investments in system reliability and response make Florida a viable option. We are a growth state, with about 50,000 net new meters added annually in recent years. To meet this demand, we’re building on a well-planned, methodical approach to create a resilient energy system across the state.

The loads that AI-driven data centers bring are unlike anything utilities have seen before. They start high and scale up fast. Because Duke Energy Florida is a vertically integrated utility, we can deliver generation, transmission, and distribution within a single framework. That simplifies the process for customers and improves our ability to deliver results.

Florida also offers a constructive business and regulatory environment, which, combined with our infrastructure capabilities, positions us well to support these new customers without compromising service to existing ones.

How is Duke Energy prioritizing grid modernization and infrastructure investments in Florida?

Grid hardening is something we’ve been doing for years, but the Florida Legislature’s storm protection plan gave us the structure to accelerate those investments and validate their importance through historical data.

The results are clear. Customers are already seeing stronger poles, reinforced wires, protected substation equipment, and in some areas, undergrounding of equipment. These upgrades have helped significantly reduce outages during major storms.

For example, after hurricanes like Debbie, Helene, and Milton, we avoided around 350 million minutes of customer interruptions because of smart, self-healing technology. Similar to a GPS navigation system that can identify an accident ahead and update a route, we use this technology to automatically detect outages and reroute power to other lines. It helps restore service faster for customers – often in less than a minute – on blue-sky days and during storms.That shows the tangible impact of these projects.

But what I think is really important to note is there’s no “silver bullet” here.  

Not all outages can be prevented by putting lines underground. During Helene, a flooding event, the longest outages happened in low-lying, flood-prone areas. In contrast, Milton was a wind event that had more impact on overhead poles and wires.

We’ve had customers who were initially frustrated by the visible construction work in their neighborhoods. But afterward, many expressed appreciation when they saw that their power stayed on during the storms.

While the company’s meteorology team provides us with excellent insight, every storm is different, and it’s hard to predict exactly what will happen. But we will continue doing what we can, while we can, because we know our customers depend on it. Our investments in resiliency, restoration capabilities, and emergency response are helping make Florida more attractive to new residents and businesses. While back-to-back storms may make people elsewhere hesitant to move here, our system reliability and recovery track record provide reassurance. Across the state, not just at Duke Energy, utilities are working during clear-weather days to strengthen the grid so that outages can be minimized when severe weather does arrive.

How is Duke Energy engaging with Orlando’s diverse communities to ensure local investments meet residents’ needs?

It’s absolutely critical. As advanced as our communication systems and grid investments are, so much of our success comes down to the human element. It’s about being able to sit across the table in an emergency operations center and work directly with fire rescue, hospitals, or nursing homes to get power restored.

After a crisis, nonprofit organizations play a key role in feeding and housing people, helping them access resources, or guiding them through tasks like filling out FEMA forms. We work closely with those groups. Our commitment, which continues well after the lights are back on, is to stand beside those affected by storms as we rebuild together.

Many of our own employees were impacted by those storms. Some lost their homes to flooding or had trees crash through their roofs, but they still came to work. Linemen made sure their families were safe, then joined their teams. There is a deep and embedded sense of service here.

During storm response, teams often spend 18 to 24 hours a day working together for days on end. That kind of experience builds lasting respect and connection among colleagues. The same applies to our community relationships. We don’t just work with officials. We engage with pastors, rabbis, neighborhood leaders — people who know their communities well.

We are proud of that outreach because we know we can’t rely on a one-size-fits-all approach. Some of our customers communicate by landline, others only by text. We have to be flexible and meet people where they are.

For example, after Hurricane Helene, we mobilized (for the first time ever) customer care units in severely impacted areas, including the Barrier Islands in Pinellas County. We went to our customers, rather than having them come to us, because we wanted to make it as easy as possible for them to get the help they needed. We reached more than 2,000 customers in six days.

I’ve been with the company for 40 years, always in external-facing roles, and I can say with certainty that we cannot accomplish our mission without sincere, human-centered engagement.

What are Duke Energy’s top priorities in Florida, and how is your role evolving in the region?

We continue to build on what we’re already doing well and improve in areas where there’s room for growth.

Florida is a dynamic and fast-growing market. We remain focused on staying ahead of that growth by attracting the best talent and expanding our capacity to meet rising energy demands.

We’re modernizing and diversifying our infrastructure, creating a more efficient, resilient grid and strengthening our workforce so we can continue to power our customers’ lives for generations to come. Above all, we have to stay in tune with what matters most to our customers. That understanding drives everything we do.