Nothing is more gratifying to Bill Farber than knowing his hard work at PPL Electric Utilities has helped tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians live and work more safely.

It may even have saved some lives.

Farber, an electrical engineer in his 16^th year at PPL Electric, is the brains behind the company’s popular Live Line Electrical Safety Exhibit, a traveling display used to teach first responders, contractors, utility companies and others across 29 Pennsylvania counties how to stay safe around electricity.

Farber, who designed and built the company’s original exhibit in 2015, put his skills to the test in 2023 when he built an updated version powered completely by solar energy and batteries. He spent approximately 300 hours of his own time over 10 months – often after workdays and on weekends – to design, engineer and build it.  And tens of thousands of people have seen his handiwork in action.

For more about the exhibit, check out this video.

“It’s definitely rewarding,” Farber said. “If we’re able to save one life doing this, it makes it completely worth it.”

The exhibit is a scaled-down 7200-volt electrical distribution system that features live electrical wires, utility poles, transformers and fuses. Using ladders, gloves, shovels and other tools in a controlled environment, trained PPL staff wearing protective equipment will show the spark, flames, smoke and crackle that occur when those items come in contact with live electrical lines.

The new exhibit eliminated the need to power components with a generator and allows the company’s Public Safety group to incorporate lessons about battery and solar power, which demonstrate how green energy sources, including solar panels and battery storage, produce power onto the electric grid. It’s an important addition to electrical safety demonstrations because it underscores the potential hazards associated with improper electrical back-feed onto the grid.

“We use it to encourage customers to consider solar power and battery storage as an option to reduce their energy bills, and at the same time, we need our first responders and contractors to understand those components can back feed our system just like a generator can today,” said Farber.

Since 2015, more than 72,000 people have seen the exhibit in action at fire halls, and special events like the Bloomsburg Fair. The 2024 tour began in March and will continue through November.

Doug Haupt, manager of PPL Electric’s Public Safety department, which provides the safety demonstrations, said the exhibit is a critical tool in teaching the public how to stay safe around electricity.

“It only takes a split second for someone to do something near electricity that could have serious consequences,” he said. “We take safety very seriously. Not only for our employees, but for our customers, first responders and contractors as well.”

Reflecting on the importance of these safety demonstrations, Haupt added, “One of the things I hear most is, you’ll never know how many lives you have saved by doing these presentations for our first responders and contractors. We’ll never know.”