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Control Operator at Clover Power Station
For the past 20 years, Danny Hylton has worked in Operations at Clover Power Station – a 877 MW coal-fired station in Clover, Virginia. This year, his role as control room operator became even more critical as millions of customers depended on uninterrupted electricity to work and attend school at home.
This article is about:
How COVID-19 has changed the way Dominion employees perform their jobs
Danny is originally from Franklin County, Virginia, but spent most of his childhood in Charlotte County. He worked in construction prior to coming to Dominion Energy. A neighbor who was a Dominion Energy employee encouraged him to apply.
“I was looking for a career not a job,” Danny said. “I had several interviews and missed opportunities before being hired into Clover Power Station.”
Danny was selected thanks in part to his electrical training from Southside Virginia Community College. He worked his way through the operator development program and completed the required coursework before accepting a control room operator position.
The company’s operator development program includes 39 months of training for operator responsibilities around the station. Participants learn about the safe operation of the boiler, turbine and generator, as well as how to operate the scrubbers and baghouses according to our environmental controls and how to operate the station’s electrical power systems. This program consists of on-the-job training, classroom instruction at the Power Generation Technical Training Center (TTC) in Chester, Virginia, self-studies, and oral boards that test participants on the operation and responsibilities in all areas.
Qualified operators also participate in control room operator training, which consists of five weeks of simulator training at the TTC, onsite training and operation at the station, switchyard training, and after approximately three months, an oral board evaluation.
“Training doesn’t stop after completing the programs though,” said Gil Jones, supervisor of Power Generation operations and maintenance (second line) at Clover Power Station. “Every day presents another opportunity to learn something new and become better as a control room operator.”
Danny typically works 13 days a month monitoring all of station’s operations to ensure everything is working properly. However, he has worked more hours during the pandemic.
“The best and most challenging part of my job is the schedule,” said Danny, who also enjoys diagnosing equipment issues at the station and pinpointing solutions.
Shifts are 12 hours and rotate every week between days and nights. Danny’s wife of 17 years, Tracy, has been supportive of his career over the years, even when he has had to miss family activities due to work.
“My wife has been there through it all,” Danny said.
Like many families, the threat of COVID-19 has changed the Hyltons’ day-to-day routine. Normally in the fall, Danny spends his time away from work on the soccer field coaching daughters, ages 12, 10 and 7, but soccer was cancelled this year.
In addition, his wife, who is a nurse at an assisted living facility, had to quarantine from the family for two months while she cared for residents with COVID-19. During that time, she would stop by and the family would talk with her as she sat in her car in the driveway. Because of Danny’s work schedule, the kids split their time between two sets of grandparents.
The family persevered and is back together again. They are getting used to the new “normal.”
“That was a long two months to be away from someone you care about, but precautions had to be taken,” Danny said. “My family hung in there and supported each other.”
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