HAMLET – Pee Dee Electric has partnered with Richmond Community College to ensure that the RichmondCC relay and substation technician students have modern equipment to aid in their education and training.
Bryan Terry, program director for the power station curriculum at RichmondCC, and Mark Rhyne, instructor, expressed their gratitude and excitement about the donation of a Cooper relay grid shelf that, in its day, was a $40,000 piece of equipment.
The current market value of the item is still a hefty $10,000, so there is certainly good reason for RichmondCC to be appreciative for the generosity of Pee Dee Electric.
“We are one of only two schools in the country – the other one is in Florida – that offers this program,” Terry said. “We can really use this type of equipment as an example of some of the different pieces of technology that are out there.”
Although RichmondCC has a top-of-the-line Schweitzer relay grid, as well as some relatively older models for the students to work with, the Cooper represents a mid-level type that should also be mastered for a complete education in the fields of relay and substation technology.
Terry was quick to offer credit to Steve Lampley as the true originator of the program in 2011.
“We (RichmondCC) were the first school in the country to offer this type of training, at least at the level of an associate’s degree,” Terry said. “And it was all because of Steve that it got started.”
Lampley has since retired from full-time work, but continues to teach with the two-year program at RichmondCC on an adjunct basis.
On hand for the ceremonial delivery were: Pee Dee Electric Chief Executive Officer Donnie Spivey; RichmondCC Board Member Richard Johnson; Pee Dee Electric Communications Specialist Ashley Haynes; Dr. Hall, RichmondCC Dean of Applied Sciences; RichmondCC instructor Mark Rhyne; and many of the 126 students currently enrolled in the RichmondCC program.
