By Melissa Subbotin
A lot has happened since ground was broken last November at the new Gas Operations Technical Training Center. Construction on the new state-of-the–art training facility in the Yolo County city of Winters is well under way and doors could open for training early next year.
When the center is fully operational in mid-2017, the center will host between 100 and 150 students each day, offering both classroom and field training. The outdoor training facilities will feature infrastructure and scenarios that employees will encounter in the field.
The construction as it looked on Aug. 17. The center will host between 100 and 150 students each day, offering both classroom and field training.
To ensure consistency between training and actual field infrastructure, PG&E crews have been leading the development and installation of the:
- Utility Village
- Outdoor transmission training area
- Corrosion field
- Indoor flow lab
- Welding lab
This new $85 million facility is among the many investments made by PG&E over the past five years to ensure employees have the training, skills and tools necessary to provide safe, reliable natural gas to communities throughout the service territory. Standardized training will bring even greater consistency to all safety practices, key to PG&E’s efforts to become the safest gas utility in the nation.
Last year, PG&E became the first company in the United States to meet the rigor of the American Petroleum Institute Recommend Practice, a new industry standard for pipeline safety management system.
PG&E's Nick Stavropoulos greets Adam Heft, a gas instructor for the utility, at the groundbreaking for the center last November. (Currents Archive Photo.).
“The different facilities featured at the Gas Operations Technical Training Center are the result of thoughtful analysis about how we can equip our employees with the necessary knowledge and tools to succeed in the field with safety as top priority,” said Jesus Soto, Gas Operations senior vice president.
“I am grateful to those who helped in development of the plans and to all who are currently working to carry those plans forward,” he added. “The progress is exciting. As we continue to benchmark against industry leaders and other companies with world class safety standards, we will ensure that the very latest, and very best, safety practices are incorporated into our rigorous training programs.”
Facts about the Gas Operations Technical Training Center:
- The main building will span 60,000-square feet.
- The “Utility Village” will include up to 15 small training homes and will provide a scale replica of a residential street used to train field service representatives.
- Even with the many different training areas planned for the site, land has been reserved to accommodate future expansion needs.
Follow construction of the training center via the Winters Work Zone webcam.
Email Currents at Currents@pge.com.