Potomac Edison completes training facility in Williamsport

Potomac Edison completed the construction of a new training facility Thursday at the company’s headquarters in Williamsport, Md.

The facility will be utilized in the Power Systems Institute (PSI) training program. The facility features a pole climbing yard to simulate realistic working environments with varying heights for students as they progress through the program. Some poles have space for instructors to provide guidance and others include equipment that would be found at power lines to simulate repairs at elevation.

"The outdoor climbing yard is designed to help students hone their pole-climbing techniques and learn fundamental job skills such as repairing cross arms and hanging transformers," James Sears Jr., president of FirstEnergy's Maryland operations and vice president of Potomac Edison, said. "This modern facility also provides flexible classroom space for everything from large group lectures to one-on-one, hands-on sessions with our expert instructors."

The facility plans to add a second yard that is focused on simulating full-scale utility equipment that can mimic field conditions.

PSI is a two-year training program that was established in 2000 to provide instruction to power line and substation employees of FirstEnergy, which Potomoc Edison is a subsidiary of, and its associated companies.