Duke Energy prepping for Tropical Storm Nicole: 'Use all of our tools'

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Duke Energy says they are ready to respond to whatever Nicole brings to the Triangle, especially with new tools in their kit.

Duke Energy says they'll rely on a number of different resources including their drone. If there's flooding or lines down, it can create a potentially dangerous situation. Now, Duke Energy is able to deploy drones to get eyes on the damage and assess what they need to fix the problem.

Also, Duke energy now has the technology to re-route power to restore an outage must faster. During hurricane Ian, they were able to restore more than 100,000 customer outages automatically and saved about 850,000 hours of outages that would've happened if that technology was not in place.

"We absolutely plan to use all of our technology during this storm. That helps our crews in the fields restore power faster, to be able to make sure power has been restored And it can help give customers a better experience during these types of storms. So all of that will be in play here during Nicole," said Jeff Brooks, Duke Energy.

Brooks says like Hurricane Ian, they plan to keep their crews here in the Carolinas until they can assess the damage and see if they are able to help in other areas.

Duke Energy said it has also made significant grid improvements across the area to strengthen the grid and reduce outages during storms.