National Power Training Institute

History

The Central Water and Power Commission (Power Wing) established Thermal Power Station Personnel Training Institutes in 1965–1975 at Neyveli (1965), Durgapur (1968), Badarpur, Delhi (1974) and Nagpur (1975) for training the engineers of thermal power stations which were being established in the country during that time. It also established the Power Systems Training Institute (PSTI) in 1972 and Hot Line Training Centre (HLTC) in 1974 at Bangalore. With the bifurcation of the Central Water and Power Commission into the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and Central Water Commission (CWC) in the 1970s, the Institute came under the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). In the late 1970s the Raj Dekshya Committee set up by the Government of India to improve the power sector of the country recommended among many things formal training for the personnel employed in the power industry. Accordingly the Indian Electricity Rule was amended to make training mandatory for the personnel employed in the generating stations and associated sub stations. With this the Thermal Power Station Personnel Training Institutes under the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) were carved out and formed into a separate autonomous body under the Ministry of Power as the Power Engineers Training Society (PETS) in 1980 to give more importance to Power Training and to have an accelerated growth of the Institutes. Later, in 1993 Power Engineers Training Society (PETS) was renamed as National Power Training Institute (NPTI). Power Systems Training Institute (PSTI) and Hot Line Training Centre (HLTC) was merged with NPTI in 2002.

The National Power Training Institute (NPTI) grew continuously through the tenure of Indian governments. The Institute, which previously conducted training only in thermal power generation has now equipped itself to conduct training in all segments of the power sector i.e. generation, transmission and distribution. In the last four decades of its existence NPTI has trained thousands of engineers, supervisors and technicians from most of the Electricity Boards, public and private sector utilities and personnel from developing nations.

Activities

NPTI has several short-term and long-term training programs to meet the urgent and long term needs and objectives of the power sector and allied industries. It has trained more than 140,000 power professionals in regular programs for over four decades.

NPTI is identified as a Premier Nodal Institute for Advanced Learning and Management studies for the higher echelons of the power sector in the advanced and frontier technologies and has also established a 'Centre for Advanced Management and Power Studies' (CAMPS) and has been developing comprehensive capsule courses covering areas of Hydro, Thermal, Power Systems, Total quality management, Executive Development Training etc., covering technology-management interface, power-environment interface, power financing, privatisation and regulatory issues through workshops, seminars, conferences etc. for dissemination of the latest information to blend technology with management in the power sector.

M.B.A. in Power Management, at CAMPS, is the flagship academic program of the NPTI. This program is approved by AICTE and is affiliated to Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak (Haryana), India.

NPTI provides Consultancy Services to Power Sector organisations in the field of Human Resource Development, Training Need assessment, Recruitment, Preparation of DPRs as per Accelerated Power Development & Reform Programme (APDRP) schemes, setting up of Training Institutes etc. To ensure reliable, safe and quality power for all, NPTI have started distribution franchise programs and have initiated steps which will ensure availability of well trained technicians and linemen.

NPTI serves as a National Certification Authority for the purpose of certification of competence to ensure availability of properly trained personnel to man the Indian Electricity Industry. NPTI is involved in Distribution Reforms, Upgrades and Management (DRUM) training programs of Ministry of Power, Govt. of India. NPTI is also conducting training programs through learning centres in collaboration with Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi for supervisors & Technicians working in Power Sector.

A strong publications and training resources unit functioning at NPTI Corporate Office has produced more than 50 manuals covering a wide range of activities in operation, maintenance and managerial practices in the power sector. Also Operation and Maintenance (O&M) manuals have been published in Hindi for supervisory and operational level personnel.

Multimedia Computer Based Training (CBT) has Been identified as one of the cost effective means of delivering consistent high quality training. In view of this, a CBT cell has been established at NPTI, Corporate office at Faridabad and also at other Regional centres for developing the multimedia Self-Learning packages in various technical areas concerning Power Generation, T&D and Management. These packages are widely used by the trainees at the open Learning Centres (OLCs) of NPTI as well as by the other power utilities of the country.

The organisation collaborated with the then Central Electricity Generating Board of the United Kingdom (UK) to modernise the training programs. A number of trainers have been sent to the UK and provided advanced training both in latest developments in the power industry as well as training methodology. NPTI continues its march to share knowledge with other friendly countries by trans-national training ventures in India and abroad.

Regional Centres

Other Institutes

Courses

Besides imparting training in the areas of Thermal, Hydro and Transmission & Distribution covering nearly 10,000 power professional of various levels annually, NPTI also conducts following industry interfaced academic programs with the objective to create a pool of committed and competent professionals equipped with appropriate technical skills to steer the Indian Power Sector:

MBA (Power Management)

The program is targeted towards fresh and practising engineers and is a unique golden opportunity for the Management of Power Utilities to groom bright executives with engineering background who are expected to move to key positions in the near future. In addition to the inputs provided in regular MBA programs, this 'Program with a Difference' lends special emphasis on specific Power Sector issues and ethos to give extra strength to the Indian Power Sector engineers to steer Power Sector of the country in the challenging times ahead. The curriculum design and the learning process emphasise the development of students' skills and abilities to apply management theories and concepts to live problems of electricity industry. The course is duly recognised by AICTE and affiliated to Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak.

B.Tech/B.E. (Power Engineering)

The four-year B. Tech. in Power Engineering (Mechanical/Electrical) is an AICTE approved course being offered at Badarpur, Nagpur & Durgapur Institutes and are respectively affiliated to GGSIP University, Nagpur University & West Bengal University of Technology.

Post Graduate Diploma in Thermal Power Plant Engineering

The one year Post Graduate Diploma Course in Thermal Power Plant Engineering was launched in 1996 recognised by AICTE, at its institutes in Badarpur, Faridabad, Nangal, Nagpur, Guwahati, Durgapur and Neyveli.

Post Diploma Course in Thermal Power Plant Engineering

The Post Diploma Course in Thermal Power Plant Engineering was launched in December 2000 at the four Institutes at Badarpur, Nagpur, Durgapur and neyveli.

Post Graduate Diploma Course in Hydro Power Plant Engineering

The Post Diploma Course in Hydro Power Plant Engineering was launched in 2009 at Nangal, Punjab. It is a nine-month course.

Other courses

Other courses include

Infrastructure

NPTI institutes are fully equipped with the latest state-of the art-training infrastructure. They have classrooms, conference halls with audio-visual aids, syndicate rooms, sanctum sanctorum, auditorium & recreational facilities together with trainee and executive hostels, guest houses and staff quarters.

The Training Institutes at Badarpur and Nagpur are equipped with 210 MW digital, full–scope, real–time, fossil-fuel-fired power plant training simulators to provide off-job, hands-on training. Another 500 MW full-scope fossil-fuel-fired training simulator and 430 MW full-scope combine cycle gas turbine simulator have been set up at NPTI Corporate Centre, Faridabad. Despatcher training simulator (DTS) at Power Systems Training Institute (PSTI) is a comprehensive tool for training of power system and load despatch engineers and operators.

A centre of excellence in Geographic information system (GIS) having high-tech training tools for imparting training and consultancy services in the area of GIS-based electricity distribution has also been set up at NPTI Corporate office, Faridabad.

NPTI has workshops and laboratories for providing practical training in preventive and corrective maintenance methods and techniques of power and process industries such as:

NPTI libraries at the Corporate Office and the regional institutes have a large collection of books and video packages related to modern power station technology practices, frontier technologies and managerial aspects. They also subscribe to a number of Indian and foreign technical journals and periodicals.

NPTI's forte in training lies in its training support services such as audio-visual aids, computer compatible projection systems, slide and film projectors, VCRs, recording decks, synchronised projection systems, video recording for mirroring technique etc. together with graphic and photographic studios for development of training materials.

NPTI also has various working and non-working models relating to main systems and equipment of power stations.