KOLKATA: Essar Power can now churn out certified power plant engineers to help address a shortage of talent in the sector.
The Central Electricity Authority has recognised Essar Power’s Learning & Development Centre at Salaya in Devbhoomi Dwarka district of Gujarat as a power training institute for generation plant engineers, the company said in a statement.
“Depending upon the course, from 25 to over 150 engineers could be trained at the EPLC at a time. With this, Essar Power has joined only a handful of organisations in the country to have an in-house training and certification institute,” the company said.
The power ministry expects India to double electricity generation from thermal plants to 2 trillion units and envisages a five-fold increase in output from renewable sources to 300 billion units. By training power plant engineers, Essar power will be able to contribute to the government’s goal of providing 24×7 power supply to the entire country by 2019.
“Continuous learning and development is crucial to any business. We have set up EPLC to improve the performance of employees and enable the organisation meet its business goals. We are very happy to receive the CEA certification, which will not only enable us to train and certify our own employees, but we also be a preferred centre of learning for the industry. We have invested in creating a state-of-the-art infrastructure and advanced learning tools to be in-sync with the industry,” said Anil Matoo, senior vice president – HR at Essar Power.
EPLC will soon start one-year courses in power generation and operations, the first that will grant CEA certification to successful candidates.
Training is an integral function of plant operations. As per rules, no person can work at a power plant with a capacity of 100 megawatts and above unless she or he is qualified and has successfully undertaken training in an institute recognised by the CEA. In addition, existing employees need to undergo regular refresher courses at such institutes to continue working at power plants.
EPLC has classrooms, a 2×600 MW simulator with remote-control unit technology, a video bridge facility, a library, laboratories and workshops located at the Salaya thermal plant complex.
Hands-on training on the simulator is available for associates based in other locations such as Mahan. Earlier, Essar engineers were sent to external institutes to obtain such certification.
“EPLC is on its way to produce competent and capable power professionals with in-house resources as well as in-house adjunct faculties with a plethora of work experience,” said IndranilGhosh, Head – Training at Essar Power.
