Case Study
Utilities
Cutting technician time-to-train by 30% on work that's too dangerous to stage in real life.
Client
Toronto Hydro
Industry
Utilities
Location
Toronto, Canada
Timeline
2022–2025
Headsets deployed
20 Quest 2 + 20 Quest 3
Key results
30%
Reduction in time-to-train for technicians
100s
Technicians trained, with adoption growing
40
Quest 2 and Quest 3 headsets deployed
3
Years in use, with new content added regularly
The challenge
Upskill new and experienced electrical workers faster, on the scenarios that are hardest to recreate safely.
Toronto Hydro runs the electricity distribution system for Toronto, Canada’s largest city. It serves approximately 793,000 customers and distributes roughly 18% of the electricity consumed in Ontario.
As part of its Utility of the Future program, Toronto Hydro wanted to cut the time needed to upskill both new and experienced electrical workers. The hardest skills to train, like switchgear operations, underground electrical vaults and powerline maintenance, are also the most difficult or hazardous to recreate in real life.
The solution
VR Vision built standalone VR modules with lifelike CGI digital twins of equipment and environments, multiplayer sessions, and training modes that range from guided education to real-time evaluation.
01
Isolate and ground procedures on SF6 switchgear, practiced without live equipment.
02
Multiple users collaborate and interact in real time in the same scenario.
03
Training ranges from guided education sessions to real-time performance evaluations.
Deployment & integration
VR Vision supplied 20 Quest 2 and 20 Quest 3 headsets for deployment across teams. Trainers use Vision Portal, VR Vision's own platform, to monitor and guide sessions through live headset feeds.
01
20 Quest 2 and 20 Quest 3 headsets for scalable deployment across teams.
02
Built for standalone headsets, so training runs anywhere without a PC.
03
Trainers monitor and guide sessions with live user feeds.
04
New modules developed regularly as the program grows.
Inside the simulation
Toronto Hydro technicians training in VR
Isolating and grounding SF6 switchgear
Multiplayer switchgear fuse replacement
Lift truck in the virtual street environment
Hands-on switchgear work in VR
A Quest 3 headset from the program
Results & impact
The program has been in use for three years and keeps growing, with new content developed regularly. Time-to-train for technicians dropped 30%, the hazards of real-world training scenarios are gone, and hundreds of technicians have been trained so far.
Before
Upskilling electrical workers took longer
Hazardous scenarios were risky to stage for training
Hard-to-access sites limited hands-on practice
After VR Vision
30% less time-to-train for technicians
High-risk scenarios practiced with no real-world hazards
Vaults and switchgear rebuilt as digital twins
Watch
Client perspective
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