Course Descriptions
Metering Course Descriptions
Below is a listing of recommended courses to include within a Metering Apprenticeship Program:
APP 106 - Basic Electricity I
This course covers basic direct current theories and applies those theories to the electrical system and related equipment. Students will study methods of producing a voltage, such as batteries, magnetic fields, basic series and parallel circuits. Students will also study basic DC circuit calculations.
APP 108 - Basic Electricity II
This course covers basic alternating current theories and applies those theories to electrical systems and related equipment. Students will also study basic generator and motor design, construction and operating principles.
APP 109 - Safety I
This course covers the general safety practices and information employees need while working in any segment of the electrical industry, and the Federal Agencies responsible for insuring a safe working environment. Students will also gain an understanding of the Workers Right to Know regulations and awareness of Public Safety issues.
APP 110 - Safety II
This course focuses on specific safety practices of the industry. Students begin by studying general practices, such as confined space entry, lock-out tag out procedures, fall protection, fire safety and working with hazardous materials. Students also learn some specific safety procedures used by linemen, such as proper bucket truck operation, and some techniques used when working with electrical conductors. Finally, students learn some of the specific considerations that must be adhered to as an electrical system dispatcher to ensure the safety of line crews and technicians working on the electrical system.
APP 111 - Math I
This course will teach basic math skills and apply those to energy industry situations. Students will learn the metric system, basic volume and area calculations as well as algebra and trigonometry and how they apply to industry specific situations.
APP 112 - Math II
This course will cover algebra, geometry, and trigonometry needed for energy technicians working in the electrical system design and metering specialization areas. This course will cover the fundamental concepts of algebra, equations, functions and graphs. This course will also cover trigonometric functions, laws of sines and cosines and vectors. Lastly the course will discuss analytic geometry.
APP 150 - Reading Electrical Diagrams I
This course gives students an introduction to the different schematics used in power plant operations and electrical transmission and distribution systems. Students will gain an understanding of the standard symbols used in the various systems schematics and how to read them. Students learn how to read basic piping and instrumentation diagrams, and how to interpret single line electrical diagrams. Students finish the course by studying electrical system diagrams beginning at the generator and following through to the distribution system.
APP 151 - Reading Electrical Diagrams II
This course covers advanced electrical prints used to navigate complex electrical systems and feeder maps. Students also study schematics that are used when working with electronic systems and system instrumentation that is used to control and monitor the flow of electricity through the electrical system. Students also learn to use the diagrams to troubleshoot system problems and to safely isolate sections of the electrical system.
APP 160 - Introduction to Transmission and Distribution Systems
This course will begin with a look at several types of power generation stations, such as large fossil fired power plants, hydroelectric power plants, gas turbine and combined cycle generating stations and finally a brief look at wind generation. After the introduction to power generation, students will study how the power is delivered from the power station to the consumer. This course will cover transmission lines and related components within a typical transmission system, such as step-up and step-down transformers, circuit breakers, disconnects and protective relaying.
APP 152 - Safety in Substations and Switchyards
This course will cover the safe operating practices, system isolation procedures, and accident prevention procedures used in the transmission and distribution of power. Emphasis will be placed on electrical system lock out and safety procedures.
APP 165 - Using Line Test Equipment
This course will identify types of line test equipment commonly used in the field, demonstrate how to use ammeters, voltmeters, and voltage testers and describe the types of readings expected from ammeters, voltmeters, and voltage testers.
APP 254 - System Elements I – Substations
This course covers the basic equipment found in switchyards and substations. Also included are the function and types of substations, related transmission and distribution systems and how each system is tied to one another.
APP 171 - Capacitors and Reactors
This course will describe the basic principles involved in operating and maintaining capacitors and reactors. The course explains the effect that capacitors and reactors have on power factor and explains how and why capacitors and reactors are used. Demonstrations of inspection and maintenance of both capacitors and reactors are shown.
APP 175 - Current Transformer
This course will cover the functions of a current transformer, describe common current transformer applications in a substation and describe the construction of common substation current transformers. In addition the course will explain the steps for demagnetizing a current transformer, complete ratio testing and describe the voltage method of checking the full wining ratio and tapped winding ratios of a current transformer.
APP 163 - Power Flow
In this course, students will study the control of power flow through interconnected systems and the operation of parallel power systems. The topics will include generator synchronization, phase angle, VAR control and voltage regulation.
APP 256 - System Elements II - Transformers
This course builds upon System Elements I by introducing basic diagrams, transformers, switching and basic substation safety and inspection. Topics covered in this course will include interpreting one-line diagrams, exploring power and specialty transformers, the six basic steps of switching and lock-out/tag-out (LOTO) procedures.
APP 161 - System Protection and Monitoring
This course covers protection fundamentals, philosophies and principles used to protect the electrical system, beginning with the generator itself. Various types of relays, input sources and system grounding are also covered.
APP 258 - System Elements III - Protective Relaying
As the last of the System Elements courses, this course focuses on protective relaying of substation equipment and transmission lines. Details found in this course include practical understanding and identification of protective and control equipment, zones of protection, protection schemes, and relay communication systems.
APP 170 - Relays 1 & 2
This course focuses on testing and calibrating substation equipment, including voltage testing on equipment feeder relays, and circuit breaker relays. Students also learn the various tests that need to be conducted on protective relays, such as overcurrent and voltage relays, directional and line relays, as well as ground and test device testing.
APP 180 - Introduction to Metering
This course introduces students to the fundamentals of metering, such as terminology and basic principles of meters. Students learn basic math needed in metering, and review basic electricity and magnetism principles. They are introduced to meter testing equipment, meter diagrams and standards, and learn technical data and how to read watt hour and demand meters.
APP 181 - Instrument Transformers and Polyphase Metering
This course will introduce students to various metering system designs and application options. The student will study the metering system components, associated wiring configurations and instrument transformer variations. Topics will include ratio, burden, and correction factor calculations; functional testing, and calibration procedures as well as safe installation procedures. Also included are cogeneration metering, and principles of load management and associated equipment.
APP 182 - Watt-hour Meter Principals
In this course students learn about single-phase metering and polyphase metering, including meter design, adjustments and compensations, and applications. They also learn about power factor analyzers, high amperage CT cabinets, meter demand theory, demand registers, and testing and maintenance of thermal demands.
APP 137 - Power Quality
This course is designed to provide a brief overview of the subject of Power Quality. The student should come away with a limited understanding of some of the sources and issues related to power quality.