OREANDA-NEWS. Essar Power, amongst India’s leading private sector power producers, today said that it’s Learning & Development Centre at Salaya in Devbhoomi Dwarka district in Gujarat has been recognized by the Central Electricity Authority, Ministry of Power, Government of India as a Power Training Institute (PTI) for training and certification to power plant engineers. Depending upon the course, from 25 (class room) to over 150 engineers (through video conference) 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 Union Power Ministry expects India to double power production from thermal plants to two trillion units and a five times rise in production from renewable sources to 300 billion units. As per the government’s stated goal of providing 24x7 power supply to all of the country by 2019, Essar Power will be able to contribute towards this milestone by training power plant engineers.

As per central government rules, no person is authorized to work in a power plant of 100 MW and above capacity, unless being adequately qualified and having successfully undertaken training in Power Training Institutes recognized by Central Electricity Authority. In addition, existing employees also need to undergo regular refresher courses at such institutes to remain eligible to continue working at the power plants. Hence, for power plants, training is an integral function of the plant operation.

Essar Power Learning Centre (EPLC) is a state-of-the-art facility, replete with classrooms, 2X600 MW simulator with Remote Control Unit (RCU) technology, Video Bridge facility, library, labs, and workshops at its Salaya Thermal Plant complex. The RCU technology facilitates hands-on training on the simulator for the associates based at distant locations like Mahan, with the simulator physically being located at Salaya. The ISO 9001:2008 certified centre has experienced in-house faculty and also gets visiting Subject Matter Experts from other centres, as per course requirement.

Earlier, Essar engineers were sent to external institutes for such certifications. EPLC will shortly be launching the one-year certification courses in Power Generation and Operation, which will be first course for which the centre will provide CEA certification to successful candidates.

“Continuous Learning & development is crucial to any business. We have set up EPLC to improve the performance of employees and enable the organization 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-synch with the industry which is rapidly adopting new technology and governed by dynamic regulations,” said Anil Matoo, Sr. VP – HR, Essar Power.

“Essar Power Learning Center has always brought out for its customers New-Better-Different learning initiatives like the Power Proficiency Program, Advance and Basic Level Simulator Trainings, Coal2Power, Energy Efficiency and various other programs niche to the power industry. With a robust infrastructure and learning systems in place, EPLC is on its way to produce competent and capable power professionals with in-house resources and as well as in-house adjunct faculties with a plethora of work experience,” said Indranil Ghosh, Head – Training, Essar Power.

About Essar Power
Essar Power is one of India's leading private power producers with over 14-year operating track record. Essar Power owns power plants in India and Canada with a total generation capacity of 6,700 MW.