About This Episode
Scott McKenzie, AMP Senior Director of Member Training and Safety, shares information on AMP’s expanded Member Training Center.
Transcription
The Public Power Line Minute – E2
AMP Member Training Center Expansion
Zachary Hoffman: Welcome to The Public Power Line Minute, quick conversations on timely topics that are important to AMP Members. I’m Zachary Hoffman, Manager of Communications and Publications with American Municipal Power, and in five minutes or less, I will help you to stay up to date on the latest issues of importance. Today, we are joined by Scott McKenzie, AMP’s Senior Director of Member Training and Safety. Scott, thanks so much for joining us.
Scott McKenzie: Thanks, Zach.
Zachary Hoffman: Alright, well, let us go ahead and jump in. At the direction of the AMP Board of Trustees, AMP began construction in 2025 on an expansion of the AMP Member Training Facility. That expansion was completed in January 2026, and it allows for year-round lineworker training. So, Scott, could you tell us a little about what drove this project forward and sort of the reasoning behind it?
Scott McKenzie: Yeah, Zach. So, you know, what really pushed this project forward for AMP and its membership was its Members. You know, they have had a high interest in training. You know, as this industry is aging, a lot of the younger workforce is coming in, and they’re really looking for, you know, quality training, you know, safe work practices and training and more technical training. So, that was a big driver of the entire project for AMP and its membership.
Zachary Hoffman: And Scott, could you give us some more details on the expanded facility?
Scott McKenzie: So, the overall annexation of the project is a 10,000-square-foot annex. The large area, where the training stations and poles are, is a 60-foot-high indoor facility, 80 by 100 feet. We updated and upgraded some of the existing training facility as well to make it a complete 10,000-square-foot facility.
Zachary Hoffman: What are some of the new features that lineworkers might see in the facility?
Scott McKenzie: So, we basically have developed a three-phase, low- voltage power supply system that will feed the training transformers, and we will be able to have safe training voltages when I have the apprentices in front of the workstations, you know, all mirror what lineworkers see and encounter when they are actually working on an energized power bank out in the field. You know, the difference for this is if they mess up and make a mistake in the training station, it will not put anyone in danger.
Scott McKenzie: They will be able to troubleshoot, they can make errors, they can identify faults, and they can learn from a controlled environment before they ever get out in the field and are working on a distribution voltage live system. We are not training strictly out of diagrams and textbooks now; we are training on real equipment. The facility will use actual utility-grade training transformers, the kind you would see on a pole — or even on underground in a pad mount installation — in any of our Member communities.
Scott McKenzie: And these are the real thing, you know. They are mounted the way that they are mounted in the field, they are real bushings, real connections, and the apprentice will have to make, you know, they will have to use this and do the wiring and troubleshooting and configuring with their own hands.
Zachary Hoffman: When is the first class of lineworker training going to take place in the new facility?
Scott McKenzie: Lineworker training will begin on May 4, and they will go for the next six to seven months.
Zachary Hoffman: Alright. And just lastly, where can members go to learn more about their training opportunities and are there still spots available for the lineworker training?
Scott McKenzie: Yeah, you can find out all the training information on the AMP website. We have a catalog on there for AMP technical services and training courses, along with a link that sets you up to sign up for this year’s lineworker classes, which we still do have spots available.
Zachary Hoffman: Excellent. Well, thank you for joining us today, Scott. I am really looking forward to getting out there and checking out the new facility myself.
Scott McKenzie: Thanks, Zach. And thanks for the interest in the AMP lineworker training program. Can not wait for you to get over here and check out the new building.
Zachary Hoffman: I am Zachary Hoffman, your host for The Public Power Line Minute, brought to you by American Municipal Power. Thank you for joining us. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to share it and subscribe so you do not miss future conversations on the issues most important to AMP Members. You can find The Public Power Line and The Public Power Line Minute wherever you get your podcasts.