New techniques for substation training

Two major forces have tremendously impacted technical training over the past few years: (1) the onset of competition and deregulation has forced utility companies to reduce staff, reduce costs, adopt new standards, and in many cases, broaden the number of protection and control schemes present on their power systems; and (2) rapid advances in technology have continuously improved substation equipment, further adding to the diversity of substation inventories. Fewer employees with less training are now increasingly responsible for greater varieties of equipment. This paper identifies these obvious challenges to properly training substation employees, evaluates the application of traditional training methods, and suggests the use of several modern approaches. Computer-based training, electronic reference and web-based training methods are discussed with real world examples of each.