Introduction
The energy industry in the US ranked as the world's second-largest producer and consumer of electricity, supports a workforce of nearly 6.8 million people.1 As with any other industry, this industry is currently undergoing a profound transformation, fueled by the heightened demand for electricity and rising environmental concerns due to climate change.
To ensure reliability and operational efficiency when meeting demand, energy companies are assessing their infrastructure needs and moving towards smart grids and Distributed Energy Resources (DER). Distributed energy services such as solar panels, wind turbines, and small-scale hydroelectric systems increase the reliability and resilience of power grids and have a lower environmental impact, along with several other advantages.
Moreover, the US government’s Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act has directly impacted the energy industry, calling for clean energy initiatives. Increasing environmental challenges such as extreme heat and drought disrupt power companies’ operations.2 This has spurred renewed goals for clean-energy transitions, gaining momentum, particularly in 2024. Energy companies seek to thrive amidst these newly arising changes while trying to overcome persisting challenges such as employee oversight of regulatory policies, outages, and downtimes, and grappling with grid infrastructure modernization to meet growing demands.
Figure 1: Challenges and Emerging Trends for the Energy & Utilities Industry
(Based on Deloitte’s Report titled 2024 Power & Utilities Industry Outlook)
Recent developments in the energy and utilities sector, particularly in clean energy and renewables, are creating new job opportunities. These roles require specialized skills in areas like clean energy production and sustainable operations 2. Additionally, existing employees at all levels are experiencing an expansion of their job responsibilities. They now need to acquire new skills and adapt their behavior while maintaining their traditional expertise. This evolution affects workers throughout the industry, as they must combine new competencies with their existing skill sets to meet the changing demands of the sector.
Figure 2: Standard Employee Learning Needs for an Energy Company
This blog highlights the trends and insights that Encora has gathered from over a decade of providing skilling solutions to its Energy and Utilities clients. Encora has consistently adapted to changing skill requirements and digital advancements. We've continuously updated our approach to developing and delivering training programs to meet these evolving needs.
Encora’s Role in Addressing Skilling Challenges in the Energy & Utilities Industry
Energy companies frequently need to undertake strategic initiatives to develop a skilled workforce capable of adapting to digital transformation. At the same time, they must also reinforce traditional on-field competencies and technical expertise by demonstrating resilience in disaster management and recovery situations and ensuring grid reliability through consistent operational and maintenance protocols.
The learning demographics within energy and utilities companies encompass a diverse range of individuals, from office workers such as IT specialists, customer service representatives, EHS, and legal officers to field workers. These employees span multiple generations, including baby boomers who prefer face-to-face instruction and Gen-Z digital natives who adapt quickly to emerging technologies and prefer instant communication and feedback.
Speed to competency is the primary goal for both learners and seasoned experts who act as trainers. Training time often conflicts with critical field operations. Knowledge sharing between intergenerational work groups blends experience with fresh perspectives and supports digital adoption. Encora conducts step-by-step learning needs analyses to create targeted programs addressing the specific needs of each generation, while promoting intergenerational collaboration through blended learning programs.
Our extensive portfolio of award-winning digital learning solutions covers a wide range of competencies for the energy and utilities industry (ref Figure 3). These solutions range from engaging eLearning programs to story-powered videos and immersive experiences, leveraging spatial computing and AI-driven query agents that meet the changing skill requirements of the energy & utilities industry.
The visual treatment, along with the learning strategy is deliberated and selected for each skilling program depending on the content and desired impact. For example, illustrations with digital painting styles are used to make messages more impactful and are most often used in cybersecurity, sustainability, and soft skill courses. Photos and videos are often used to ensure the highest level of realism in safety and technical courses.
Figure 3: Standard Learning Programs for Energy Companies
Thereby, each learning program is meticulously designed to cover a wide spectrum of competencies, aligned with larger business goals, reflecting our deep industry expertise. Let's delve into the details of some of our most challenging and fulfilling experiences o when developing compelling learning programs for Encora’s Energy & Utilities clients.
Blended Learning
Encora designed and developed an award-winning blended learning program for a US-based energy provider. The program consisted of interactive digital modules covering core technical content on substation operations and maintenance procedures. These modules were followed by classroom sessions and on-field tours. This structure allowed learners to explore the work area and facilitated on-site mentoring. Job aids were provided as downloadable offline resources for on-the-job performance support.
For another global energy giant, it was important for the customer to train the frontline supervisors in multiple areas, such as setting up VPN on mobile devices, energy distribution, safety, and procurement. There was an added requirement to integrate these training courses with career progression plans.
Encora developed a detailed curriculum and delivered a blended learning program, comprising classroom workshops for disseminating technical content that needed in-person guidance, eLearning for general content, and on-the-job performance tools, such as printable handouts, safety manuals, and other resources. As part of the learning program, Encora created an HTML5-based responsive PPE identification tool that the supervisors could use to get a list of mandatory and optional PPE required for specific tasks.
Microlearning Videos
For office personnel involved in customer operations, crew, and data management, Encora has developed video-based and game-based microlearning series for topics such as contingency planning, cyber security, and data governance.
Game-based eLearning
Game-based learning programs are powerful tools for raising awareness about social issues by harnessing an employee’s innate desire for achievement and recognition. Encora applied this principle and developed a game-based eLearning containing a journey map with a quest motif to promote employee awareness of climate change. An introductory video with dramatic effects worked as a prologue to inspire learners to take personal responsibility and instill sustainable intentions and behavior in their daily work operations and activities.
Continuing with the theme of social and behavioral change, the energy industry poses safety risks and health hazards in its daily operations involving heavy machinery, high pressures, and volatile substances. People work at heights and enclosed spaces, or in extreme weather conditions. Also, in addition to ensuring employee well-being, energy companies must equip their employees on emergency preparedness, regulatory compliance, and reduced downtime/manual errors for operational efficiency.
Virtual Reality Experiences
Encora has designed and developed a sizable number of safety programs both in the classroom and in digital modes. Through our interactions with SMEs from protective systems and EHS departments, we learned that live safety demonstrations are risky, difficult to schedule, and hard to re-create. Also, these traditional modes may not always carry the desired impact as digital learning largely focuses on knowledge transfer and may miss the emotional impact of these safety courses.
As Julie Dirksen states in her book, “Talk to the Elephant: Designing Learning for Behavior Change,” there is a gap between what the learners know needs to be done and actually doing it. To close this gap, we need to address the subconscious, irrational, and emotional part of the learner. In such situations, immersive virtual reality experiences with storylines containing risky situations are recommended so workers are exposed to these risks in a controlled environment.
One such immersive experience was developed by Encora with a 360-degree self-playing VR video. A fictional storyline with a safety incident emphasizing the importance of wearing the right PPE was simulated, scripted, and shot using a 360-degree camera mounted on the hard hat of an actor. One of the immediate benefits seen is the long-term behavioral change facilitated by high-impact scenes such as arc flash explosions and firsthand view of potential injuries.
Interactive 3D Simulations
In addition to safety training, realism, on various levels, is necessary for utility professionals, as their work involves operating complex equipment. For one of these requirements, a learning program was developed as an interactive 3D simulation with an Explore section for the learners to explore and identify the components of a switch breaker and a Practice section for the learners to practice inspecting and handling the switch breaker. Similarly, for yet another requirement, Encora developed a 3-D-based virtual field exercise using the Unity gaming software and simulated storm damage assessment for electrical distribution network in an area.
Compliance Training
Protecting oneself and the critical company infrastructure as well as public infrastructure during installations or maintenance is a key requirement for every employee. Compliance and regulatory oversight can lead to litigations, cyber-attacks, and unwarranted expenses to the company. Therefore, regulatory compliance learning programs are frequently created and updated to ensure that employees are well-versed in the evolving regulatory requirements to accommodate new technologies and changing policies. One of the standard courses that we have developed for our energy customers is the NERC CIP certification detailing cybersecurity policies for protecting national infrastructure.
Learning Platforms
Digital transformation had started re-shaping the energy industry’s ways of working and operations right from the point of generation till consumption. As witnessed in the recent skilling programs developed by Encora, training and performance goals are now focused on enhancing and personalizing customer experiences, digital adoption of new systems, smart grid and IOT components to increase grid reliability, promoting cyber security awareness, predictive analytics of key data, and so on.
The impact is seen in the content and in its delivery. For a blended learning program on documenting electric and gas inspection records in a customer management system, Encora is now developing a custom LMS platform to ensure seamless delivery of digital modules as well as recording, reviewing, and tracking learners’ offline practice assignments in the system application. These assignments were mostly exercises or practice activities carried out in a sandbox instance of the system to support continuous learning and ensure seamless adoption.
For another leading sustainable energy company in the United States, Encora developed a custom NLP-based chatbot and integrated it into the company’s LMS to answer any questions employees may have on their skilling program.
Future Roadmap
Rapid upskilling is needed to equip the current workforce for a digitally transformed energy industry. This includes training on key technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data analytics, blockchain, and cloud computing. Understanding how these technologies improve energy generation, distribution, and consumption is crucial.
As with digital transformation and cybersecurity, sustainability will be a key theme for most of the skilling programs with a global emphasis on Clean Energy. Learning programs will increasingly include modules on environmental regulations, sustainability practices, and the impact of energy operations on the environment.
In addition to the content, Encora is now looking to leverage advancements in immersive technologies which offer better possibilities for delivering and engaging the learners. Digital twinning using Omniverse can be potentially applied for skilling initiatives on substation equipment operations and maintenance.
Companies could conduct live-scenario learning experiences using real-time equipment data from physical systems which, in turn, can be incorporated into its digital twin. Learners can initially operate on the digital twin, view the consequences in a risk-free environment, and then proceed to work with physical equipment. This will enable learners to seamlessly adapt to real-world challenges.
Similarly, digital twinning technology can be used for emergency response skilling. Learners can enter a simulated world of emergency, perform the required mitigation tasks, view the progression of events digitally, and receive live feedback to adjust their responses.
In conclusion, emerging technology trends mark a transformative shift in how energy workers may consume and engage with learning programs. Skilling initiatives are gradually moving toward a lifelong learning model, where employees are encouraged to continuously update their skills and knowledge. The energy industry is entering an exciting phase of growth, marked by the convergence of new technologies, sustainability efforts, and renewable energy sources. This transformation presents promising opportunities for workforce development. As we embrace these changes, we're not just adapting to a new era in energy – we're empowering individuals to shape a cleaner, more efficient future for generations to come.
References:
- https://www.trade.gov/energy-industry#:~:text=According%20to%20the%202020%20U.S.,the%20world's%20largest%20energy%20consumers.
- https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/power-and-utilities/power-and-utilities-industry-outlook.html/#climate
- https://vbeyond.com/powering-the-future-workplace-skill-development-and-recruitment-in-the-clean-energy-transition/
