Training

Training delivered by energy, power & power quality experts with decades of experience develops knowledge and prepares new and experienced engineers and electricians interested in these areas to face solving the real electrical problems they encounter with their customers. PBE Engineers offers five training options, based on proven e-Learning platforms and face-to-face training venues, to help us meet your needs and expectations. All of our courses are offered in each training option. 

There are benefits and advantages to each training option when trying to match our training courses to the individual needs of each student or group of students. One option may appear to best fit your needs but selecting more than one option may help you learn more effectively, depending on the objectives & training topics. For example, one may enroll in and complete a specific training course(s) using Training Option 1: On-Line Self-Paced Training before having a PBE expert instructor travel to the customer’s site to administer the same or next level of training using the customer’s real electrical environment.

PBE Engineers has designed each training option to help overcome specific barriers and limitations in how students learn with each option custom designed for each student’s current background, knowledge and experience level. Each training option is described below to help you select the best one for your current needs.

Each training course is described & equipped with the following:

Overview of the Training: A detailed overview of each training course is provided, including the reasons the training is important in that specific field (energy, power and/or power quality), why the training was developed, how ‘what is learned by the student’ is used in the field to understand, identify, solve and prevent PQ problems. A time estimate for taking each course is also provided.

Learning Objectives: The learning objectives for each training course are provided. This describes the objectives the student will learn to meet and how the student will learn and meet them.

Practice Quizzes: Up to three practice tests are provided for each training module. These practice tests will not be accessible to the student until the training module is completed.

Actual Test (for credit): One actual test, which will be graded by the expert in that field and used to provide each student with the credits (towards Professional Development Hours, Continuing Education Units, etc.). Questions for this test are selected from the practice quizzes with some new questions based on the development of new problems and how they can be solved. A copy of the completed test will be provided to the student once completed and graded.

Certificate of Completion: An official Certificate of Completion including the name of the training course, the student’s full name, job title, date of completion and grade will be provided in an Adobe pdf format to the student once the training module is completed. This will be kept on record at PBE Engineers.

Training Option 1: On-Line Self-Paced Training – For the students who must fit training into their busy life and work schedules, the self-paced training option may be the best option for you. Each training course is divided up into lessons where you can start and stop each lesson at your convenience. The start and stop functions simply remember where you started and stopped within a specific training course or lesson. When you enroll to take a specific self-paced training course, that specific course is assigned to you and becomes the “training course of record” indicating you did take that specific course. With no time limit on these courses, students develop their own training schedule, giving them time to pause and review training content as often as needed. When there’s a need to stop reading / reviewing a training course on-line, clicking the STOP button will pause the training right where you want to pause until the next time you’re able to log back in to pick up where you left off.

Training Option 2: On-Line Moderated Training – (COMING SOON)– Moderated training provides the student with an expert by your side in the specific area of the training. The student may select the “Expert at Arm’s Length” or the “Contact an Expert” option as the student progresses through the training course. The “Expert at Arm’s Length” moderated training provides the student with an expert on-line ready-to-discuss (via audio or text) training content and guides the student in answering questions. The “Contact an Expert” option provides the student with the ability to enter specific questions related to the specific training course, lesson or topic which are then submitted to the expert after the student pauses the training or completes the training. Fewer places in each training course, lesson or topic provide a “Stop” or pause button than in Training Option 1. PBE’s expert via the “Contact an Expert” option in the specific training course will receive and answer the questions submitted by the student within 24 hours.

Training Option 3: Face-to-Face Training (at a PBE Conference Center Office) – Face-to-face training provides student(s) with access to the expert for that specific training course in a controlled classroom environment in the specific geographic area where the students are located. Learning areas designed specifically for quiet training environments are set up to train from one (1) up to 50 students in a single training event. A training event may occur over a one (1) day period up to a five (5) day period, depending on the training topic and/or the level of in-depth training needed on a specific topic. In some training courses, lessons and topics, actual test and measurement equipment used in the specific training topic is included in the training session. Students are provided with a notebook containing the training materials including technical papers on the training topic and a USB stick with the training materials and technical papers for storage and usage on the customer’s laptops and servers.

Training Option 4: Face-to-Face Training (Your Location) – In many instances, multiple students from a single company location may need training in specific topics. It may be more economically feasible for the expert training instructor to travel to the customer’s company location where the students are located as opposed to all of the students traveling to one of the PBE training locations. In some cases, specific test and measurement equipment may accompany the training instructor to the students’ training location. In other instances, the training instructor may be able to use a company’s specific test and measurement equipment in the training class to strengthen the training and provide the students with the hands-on experience to teach them how to use such equipment in a field environment. Students are provided with a notebook containing the training materials including technical papers on the training topic and a USB stick with the training materials and technical papers for storage and usage on the customer’s laptops & servers.

Training Option 5: Face-to-Face Training with Real Field Investigation (Any Location) – Sometimes, neither on-line training nor face-to-face training is enough to drive those core investigative concepts home for the students. Students can also benefit from some field-oriented classroom instruction followed by real field work in real customer electrical environments (perhaps their own) where real PQ problems are occurring. There’s not a better environment to teach students how to investigate real energy, power and power quality problems other than a real customer electrical environment with actual PQ problems. This training option provides the student(s) with classroom instruction on how to plan and conduct power quality investigations in actual customer electrical environments followed by a real investigation in that environment. This is one of the most effective methods of teaching engineers and electricians how to conduct energy audits and power quality investigations. Only specific training modules can be selected for use with this option. The PBE Engineer expert training instructor will work with the customer to plan the audit or investigation before it is conducted. The use of properly rated specific personal protection equipment (PPE) is included with this training option.