Polish DSO Tauron to open engineering skills centre
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The Polish electricity distribution system operator will create an Industry Skills Center (BCU) in Wrocław, Poland, to help engineers develop their qualifications in the field of measurement and diagnostics of electrical devices and installations, as well as protection against electric shock.
Tauron Dystrybucja will open the centre thanks to funding from the Polish Ministry of Education and Science’s MEiN competition.
The DSO is partnering on the centre alongside the Wrocław Commune, the Vocational Training Center in Wrocław, the Polish Electricity Transmission and Distribution Society and the Institute of Energy Systems Automation.
“Modern staff education is necessary for the development of the energy industry and the implementation of its tasks. In the profession of a broadly understood energy engineer, there are currently completely new competencies, tasks and processes related to the transformation of the energy sector, changes in the energy market and technological changes,” emphasised Radosław Pobol, president of TAURON Dystrybucja, in a release.
“We still need and recruit electricians working directly on the network, but a very large scope of personnel needs in the distribution area concerns skills related to automation, security, network traffic management, flexibility services and the construction of a Smart energy network.”
New energy engineers
Work on the establishment of BCU in Wrocław includes the reconstruction of the Vocational Training Center and then equipping it with specialised teaching stations.
The centre will create five workshops for practical vocational training. At the same time, a detailed curriculum and teaching materials for vocational training and industry courses are prepared.
The main tasks are to conduct professional training, industry courses and non-formal education courses for pupils and students, teachers and adults, as well as the validation and certification of these skills.
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The centre’s activities will focus on the transfer of knowledge and technology from the science and business sector to education programmes in the field of electricians, the development of digital and ecological skills, the dissemination of innovative solutions in vocational education and the support of people with disabilities.
“During the project’s implementation, the company, along with its partners, will conduct vocational training, industry courses for adults, including teachers, and consultations on teaching programs in the field of electricians, lectures and other initiatives aimed at promoting the energy profession,” explained Ewa Groń, spokesperson for TAURON Dystrybucja.
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Funding from the competition for Tauron’s centre is approximately PLN13 million (approximately $3.1 million).
The overall competition included PLN1.4 billion (approximately $333 million) from the Foundation for the Development of the Education System on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Science.
The projects and their respective centres are intended to ensure innovative and lasting cooperation between business and vocational education across industries, including energy, renewable energy, electricity and IT and programming.
According to the terms of the competition, work related to the creation of the Industry Skills Center should be completed by the end of 2024, so that the first students could start learning from January 2025. The project assumes training of 300 participants – 90 students and 210 adults, including 30 teachers in mid-2026.
