Future of Power Engineering

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mull982

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I am at the point in my career where I am considering pursuing a future in Power Engineering. In the little bit of research I've done, I've read that there will soon be a shortage or a need for power engineers due to the fact that many will be retiring, and there will not be enough to replace those who are stepping down. Part of the reason for this is the fact this is a specilized field that not may univirsities or programs offer to students.

I was curious what others opinions were on the present state, and future of Power Engineering. Is this field really considered a dying breed? If what I read about a shortage of these engineers in the future is true will there indeed be a great need for these engineers as well as good compensation that would come with this need?

Just trying to weigh some future options and was interested to hear others thoughts or experiences.
 
I hope that there really is a full time shortage of Power Engineers, at least for the next 10-15 years, and then part time after that.:)
 
Very good; very good!! A part-time shortage??? !!! Cool. :cool: How about starting now, a part-time shortage with full-time pay for electrical professionals, generally?

BTW, I wonder about the same question as the OP. Thinking off the top of my head (maybe that's been the problem all these years), power systems are not going away--electrical power usage has only increased and will continue to increase. Designing of systems will only get more sophisticated as higher efficiencies are demanded of the systems: efficiencies of materials, labor, and energy.
 
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In the 80s when the programmable controllers, VFDs, and soft starts were coming out and I was going to school on them. Several times, young engineers in the classes were telling me about how this was the place to be.

Yawn.

Electronic controls are great, PLCs, vfds, soft starts - are great. And it is important to know about them. But they are all worthless unless someone supplies the energy.

Accountants run the world. But they are willing to pay plenty to those of us that supply the energy.

About twenty years ago I figured out that I was not in the electrical business - I'm in the energy business. And people will pay for energy.

cf
 
If you believe everything you hear about the engineers at electric utilities, over 50% of them will be able to retire in 5 to 10 years. My day job is at a POCO as a PE and I do see a lot of retirement notices regularly.

As far as power engineering at colleges, there is a gap in credible programs. Most of the electrical engineering departments moved towards microelectronics in the 90's and the utility engineers were seen as low the low tech field.

Now, with the great buzz word "Smart Grid?, my utility and others are going after hundreds of millions of dollars in federal stimulus money to make the grid 'smart'. The big misconception about the SG is that it will be here and fully operational in 3-5 years. IMHO it will take this industry, which is over 100 years old, 20 to 30 years to truly become a SG.

So, long answer to your question is - Yes, PE is a good field to be in and will be for a long time.

Varczar
 
ichimo23 said:
What kind of degree/education is generally required for an entry-level Utility Engineer position? Where are highly regarded programs being offered?
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BSEE.


Some of the better programs I have heard of include:
U-Wisconsin in Madison WI, Michigan Technological University in Houghton, and U-Tennessee in Knoxville as well as Virginia Tech and Missouri S&T.
 
Washington State University (WSU) in Pullman, WA (home of Schweitzer relays) and Rensselaer Polytechnical in Troy, New York (near the company Edison started) and University of Idaho have good electrical power engineering programs.
 
Power engineering at utilities (transmission and distribution) is different than power engineering at the customer level. And at the customer level more systems get involved such as lighting, fire alarm, security, cable TV, data, telephone, public address etc. So after you pick Power (Electrical) Engineering you have another choice to make. :) And yes there is a shortage most of the time, especially at the utility level. Lastly you don't have to have a college education (biting my tongue) to work in either field, especially at the customer side. Most of the [edit:education/]experience is gained on the job anyway.
 
UK has a similar or worse situation. There isn't much new blood coming into the field. Engineering doesn't attract potential graduates. It isn't seen as "cool".
To make it worse in the UK, the term "engineer" is (mis)used for the person who comes fix your washing machine, a mechanical fitter in a plant and a host of other jobs that wouldn't even be considered a trade, far less a profession. I used to hesitate to tell people that I am an engineer. They'd look down on you and expect dirty fingernails as a minimum. I'm an old fellow now and I don't give a monkey's what they think of me personally.

But I still feel immensely saddened by the (UK) general public's perception of what engineering is.
 
Best Schools? The University of Illinois.

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankings...uate-schools/top-engineering-schools/rankings

They have slipped a little. When I went to school there, the U of I was consistently in the top 3, and frequently beat Stanford and MIT.

IMO, you should get a well rounded enginnering degree that covers all the basics. Even a program geared toward power enginnering probably shouldn't have much more than 4-5 specialized power enginnering classes.

Most of your specialized knowelege you learn on the job. The good engineering programs consider themselves "above" teaching anything remotely "technical". So you won't learn circuit breaker coordination, or how breakers work, or anything about fuses, panels or switchgear.

Edit: I should of posted this link. The one above is actually for graduate enginnering of all flavors. The one below is for undergrad. electrical enginnering. And the U of I is still tied for second:

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/spec-doct-electrical
 
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rcwilson said:
Washington State University (WSU) in Pullman, WA (home of Schweitzer relays) and Rensselaer Polytechnical in Troy, New York (near the company Edison started) and University of Idaho have good electrical power engineering programs.
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UT and Texas A&M.

Power engineering is an essential but grossly overlooked profession in the US.

There is a great influx of engineers from India in the profession.

Smart grid is a rather dangerous idea as it stands now both from the national security and privacy standpoint.

It will also cause problems with control versus protection. Control and protection will become extremely complex and reliant on computer control which is fine if the thing is built like the shuttle with five time redundancy, but the beancounters will come out of the woodwork and force the reliability to lax.

The power engineering specialization and the need for continuous training will accelerate, but hey, it is like stating that the sky is blue.

It is one of the hardest engineering discipline you can choose.
 
rcwilson said:
Washington State University (WSU) in Pullman, WA (home of Schweitzer relays) and Rensselaer Polytechnical in Troy, New York (near the company Edison started) and University of Idaho have good electrical power engineering programs.
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I can vouch for RPI :)
 
sparkie001 said:
Lastly you don't have to have a college education (biting my tongue) to work in either field, especially at the customer side. Most of the [edit:education/]experience is gained on the job anyway.
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You need the education to have the fundamental skills. You can't build on that if you don't have it in the first place.
 
It doesn't take a college edgeamucation to layout light fixtures and circuit receptacles. Of course more complicated subjects require more training/education but still most of what I have learned re the bricks n mortar business were learned on the job and/or seminars over 30 yrs. [edit: And you can't compete in the consulting business with only engineers on the project. You need designers and drafters to be cost competitive. So the OP could fit-in in any of those places.]
 
sparkie001 said:
It doesn't take a college edgeamucation to layout light fixtures and circuit receptacles. Of course more complicated subjects require more training/education but still most of what I have learned re the bricks n mortar business were learned on the job and/or seminars over 30 yrs. [edit: And you can't compete in the consulting business with only engineers on the project. You need designers and drafters to be cost competitive. So the OP could fit-in in any of those places.]
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The question was Power Engineering. Obviously you don't understand what it means.
 
weressl said:
You don't have to have a college education to perform engineering?

Boy, does that manifest total ignorance of the subject matter or what?!:roll:
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For some of the engineering tasks, you do not. I worked in a utility engineering department where one of the guys in the engineering department had worked for the company for a long time and had gained the skills needed for most distribution engineering.

He did not have to get into any extremely complicated design work and he worked right along side the two engineers in the department and handled his 1/3 of the territory.

He was a very smart self-taught retired Navy boy. These types are usually exceptions to the rule and I would agree that without the engineering background, you are starting at an extreme disadvantage.
 
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