In-house Training Development for Relay and Protection Engineers

ComEd’s workforce development. However, with the increasing complexity of our systems, growing workloads, and a steady influx of new engineers, these conventional approaches are no longer sufficient. To meet the demands of system expansion and ensure consistent performance across our team, we need a more efficient, scalable, and repeatable training model.

This paper outlines our strategy for developing and implementing in-house training tailored to our Relay and Protection (R&P) team. Our approach is designed to ease the learning curve for new engineers while reinforcing critical skills for experienced personnel.

A key element of our training model is the use of focused, concise training sessions. Long form training events are often difficult to schedule and can overwhelm participants with too much information at once. Instead, we offer shorter, topic-specific sessions that are easier to attend and digest.

Another foundational aspect of our approach is emphasizing core concepts and tools over specific applications. Rather than walking through detailed procedures for every scenario, we focus on building a strong understanding of the principles behind our standards. This includes training on software tools, protection philosophies, and internally developed calculation sheets. By doing so, we help engineers develop the intuition and problem-solving skills necessary to handle both routine and non-standard situations.

To support this streamlined training, we integrate it with existing standards and documentation.

While the training sessions themselves may not cover every detail required for job execution, they are designed to provide the context and conceptual grounding needed to interpret supplemental materials effectively.

Once foundational knowledge is established, we introduce hands-on, scenario-based exercises.

These interactive activities simulate real-world challenges, including system failures and troubleshooting scenarios, in a controlled environment. Many of these exercises are based on historical events or known error-prone situations, allowing trainees to apply their knowledge in a practical, risk-free setting. This experiential learning, which we have called “fail safe” activities, reinforces theoretical concepts and help ensure our team is prepared to take on the challenges our team faces.

The paper will go into detail on a couple of the fail safe activities that have already been developed. These 2 examples are from our vendor specific proprietary digital secondary system

(DSS) training which was the first module converted to this method.

We then discuss how we leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to lighten the burden on our instructors and engineers who are looking for a refresher or have a question related to a training module.

Finally, it will discuss potential improvements and benefits we get from this approach. While this approach isn’t a radical shift in practices, it does focus on the most critical aspects that we gain the most benefit from.