‘Simulated village’ to bring real-world training for Puget Sound Energy workers

PUYALLUP, Wash. — The construction of a new training facility for Puget Sound Energy hopes to usher in a new way to train field crews and engineers in the utility.

The operations training center broke ground outside of Downtown Puyallup at the start of August and will feature classroom settings, laboratories and a ‘simulated village’ that will give crews experience with situations they will encounter in the field.

“It takes it from the classroom into this hands-on simulation of a real-life scenario,” said Jason Sanders, the director of training, safety, emergency management and prevention for Puget Sound Energy.

The simulated village will have a mix of single-family homes, multiplex, and commercial buildings to recreate the neighborhood settings crews will encounter when responding to an outage or gas leak.

The facility will have the ability to simulate gas leaks for crews to locate and fix.

“We’ll even have other simulated utilities where we are in these areas so as our employees are exposed to this it really is that simulation of what its going to look like out in the field,” Sanders said.

Sanders said the facility has been planned for at least six years and will incorporate ways to build on future trainings and potentially virtual reality to help crews adapt to new technologies.

“I think in the long run it helps us even more because we don’t need to send our employees out to other locations to get this kind of training because now have this incredible site in downtown Puyallup,” Sanders said.

The facility is expected to cost $79 million, paid for by a twenty-year lease-to-own deal with the developer, Trameel Crow. When asked if the facility will require a rate increase among customers, a spokesperson said, “The facility will be rolled into our operating costs over time, similar to how we treat other projects.”

©2024 Cox Media Group