Workforce
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Renewables
Grid Edge and Digital Technologies Take Center Stage at EEI Convention
Panels at the 2016 Edison Electric Institute convention focused on technologies and policies at what’s often called the “grid edge.”
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O&M
Managing Multiple Generations Across a Smooth-Running Fleet
Power generators have always had to make afetyome changes as each new generation enters the sector, but today’s new workers are bringing with them attitudes and skills that challenge traditional plant management, for good and ill. Here’s what some companies and plants are doing to make the best use of younger workers while getting them […]
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O&M
Use Near-Miss Incidents as a Preventive Tool
Broadly put, today’s power plant operations are a mix of automated operations and manual or procedural steps. A plant may have hundreds of control loops, interlocks, permissives, and safety systems. In
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Commentary
Power Work Shifts
For most of the history of the power industry, utility jobs were secure and long-tenured. Though they continue to offer greater stability than many other comparably paid jobs, forces on both sides of the
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History
New Thinking on Old Safety Issues
Human workers are imperfect, which is why there’s no magic bullet that will give you a safe workplace. But new research on human behavior and how that translates into safety attitudes is helping some in the power industry get beyond the traditional platitudes. Safety first. Safety is no accident. Be aware—Take care. Those and others […]
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O&M
Training the Next Generation of Electric Utility Workers
New worker training has traditionally meant classroom instruction and wading through a big pile of printed materials. But videos can offer deeper and more rapid understanding of critical issues, especially for younger generations. The Electric Power Research Institute has developed a series of videos to help power plants train new workers more effectively. Inexperienced new […]
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Coal
Supporting Coal Power Plant Workers Through Plant Closures
Coal-fired power plants around the U.S. are closing—rapidly. It’s a trend that will continue for the foreseeable future as dozens more units are slated for closure in the next few years. According to a