Chicago offers some of the world’s best, modern engineering feats. 2014 IEEE PES Transmission & Distribution Conference attendees are encouraged to participate in the technical tours of various industrial facilities. Technical tours have been offered at most IEEE PES T&D Conferences, as the host utility makes arrangements with local facilities for in-depth excursions. Please see IEEE PES for information on registering.
On Monday, April 14, ComEd’s Rockford Training Center and Lee/DeKalb Wind Energy Center, will be two tours in one:
Departs McCormick Place 8 a.m.; return 5 p.m.
Cost $50 – includes box lunch.
Capacity 30
Located on the grounds of ComEd’s Rockford headquarters on Energy Avenue, the new training center and education center features 34,000 square feet of indoor training space and 85,000 square feet of outdoor training space.
The training center includes:
- Indoor and outdoor pole climbing yards featuring 30-foot utility poles with soft base flooring, a 28-foot transmission tower, and an indoor catwalk for instructors to get closer to trainees while they climb
- A full-size manhole rescue station which provides critical training for the unique nature of confined space rescues, a hazard for many ComEd employees
- Indoor and outdoor substation training areas, complete with underground cable bays, which can be energized for training on live equipment, as well as a key safety feature that enables remote power disconnection
- Classrooms, a 100-seat lecture hall, and – for school groups and tours – a customer education area that features a mock kitchen equipped with smart appliances
- An Auxiliary storm training center from which additional manpower can be dispatched to expand storm restoration capabilities
- A meter shop complete with all major meter fittings available throughout ComEd service territories
Lee/DeKalb Wind Energy Center offers 217.5 MW of affordable, pollution free wind energy, enough to meet the needs of about 54,000 homes. The site contains 145 wind turbine generators, with a rated capacity of 1.5 MW each.
Tour attendees must wear serviceable shoes – no heels or open toed shoes will be allowed.
