How extended reality empowers the electrical operation and maintenance workforce

While electrical distribution systems have become more complex, seasoned electrical professionals are retiring, and operational budgets are tightening. This leaves facility management teams with fewer, less-experienced people to maintain critical assets and respond to any threats to electrical continuity while frequently working on unfamiliar equipment under stressful conditions. Using extended reality (XR) technology – including virtual, augmented, and mixed reality – is already well-established in applications like healthcare, manufacturing, and industrial training. This paper demonstrates how emerging XR tools apply to electrical distribution to accelerate training while empowering the facility workforce to improve safety and efficiency, and save time isolating risks and restoring power.