Dt: 09/3/12

HONBLE MOSP AWARDS NPTI CERTIFICATES ON 07-03-2012

Shri K.C. Venugopal, Honble Minister of State for Power gave away the certificates awarded by NPTI to qualified System Operators in a glittering ceremony held on 7 th March, 2012. The certificates were given in the presence of Shri P. Uma Shankar, Secretary (Power), Shri A.S. Bakshi, Chairperson, CEA, Shri Subodh Garg, Director General, NPTI, Shri R.N. Nayak, CMD, POWERGRID and other senior officials of CERC, Ministry of Power, CEA, POSOCO, State Utilities etc. NPTI had conducted System Operators Training for the first time in the country and so far seven such training programs have been conducted at NPTI, Bengaluru. Countrys first On-line Certification Test was organized by NPTI in twelve (12) centers across the country. Ministry of Power had constituted a Committee in February, 2008 to report on Manpower, Certification and Incentives for System Operation and Ring Fencing Load Despatch Centres. The Committee was headed by Shri Gireesh B. Pradhan, the then Addl Secretary, Ministry of Power and presently Secretary, MNRE. The Committee submitted its Report in August, 2008. The Committee recommended that there is a strong need of providing training to System Operators manning State Load Despatch Centres (SLDC), Regional Load Despatch Centres (RLDC), and National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC). The Committee also recommended that there should be a certification of training provided to System Operators.

Subsequently thereafter, various meetings were held between officials of CEA, NPTI and other stake holders and CEA entrusted the responsibility of providing training and certification to NPTI.

NPTI took up the challenging assignment and decided the training to be conducted at its Power System Training Institute, Bengaluru as the same had Load Despatch Simulator. The first course of two weeks training commenced in April, 2011 and so far seven training programs have been conducted. These training programs have been attended by about 260 System Operators of SLDCs, RLDCs and NLDC. Faculty included notable field experts from Academia, Industry, NPTI, Load Despatch Centres and Regulatory Bodies. Extensive efforts were made for developing the course material. An elaborate system of evaluation was put in place and On-line Tests were conducted at the end of each module and at the end of the course as well. More training programs have been planned in 2012. A systematic Training environment together with a Robust and Reliable On-line Testing System has been created.

Countrys first On-line System Operators Certification Exam was conducted on 6 th November, 2011 at 12 centres across India. As many as 328 System Operators registered for the exam and 266 System Operators have cleared the exam. Two more Certification Exams are being planned for 2012. The validity of the Certificates shall be for three (3) years after which the Systems Operators will have to re-certify themselves for operating Load Despatch Centres.

NPTI received excellent co-operation and support from the Ministry of Power, CEA, POSOCO, POWERGRID, RPCs, State Utilities etc. NPTI is proud to be associated with this new and unique venture. NPTI is putting all its efforts to ensure that the training as well as the certification is of international standards.