Students from the BEng in Electrical Engineering at WIT recently paid a visit to the ESB Training Facility at Portlaoise, the students were joined by Lecturers Siobhan Wall & David Williams as well as some students from Electronic Engineering and the Sustainable Energy Engineering Programs at WIT.
The trip was facilitated by Alan Kelly (Training Delivery Manager) and Michael Conry (Training Centre Manager). Special thanks also to Steven McCarthy, Steven Mortimor, Michael Scully, Cathal Sheehy and of course Edmond O Keefe (a past student of the BEng in Electrical Engineering at WIT) who brought the students on a tour of the facilities.
The centre in Portlaoise provides training for apprentice Network Technicians and also continuing training and development of existing staff. The students were given a demonstration of 220 & 110 kv power lines and their associated switchgear and controls, with a lot of the equipment being new to Ireland and contributing to the development of a smart grid configuration in Ireland.
Students were also shown some of the training that Network Technicians receive in cable installation and termination, working on poles and pylons and even the use of multi terrain vehicles.
The students and staff at WIT would like to thank all the staff at Portlaoise that facilitated this extremely interesting visit.
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SETU Waterford, Cork Road, Waterford City, 
