r/PowerSystemsEE

I graduated as an EE with a concentration in power systems. I started my career as a planning engineer (ETAP, power Factory, Cyme) and later moved into a distribution engineer role, handling design, studies, projects, BOMs, and field supervision. After that, I transitioned into a management role overseeing substation field work—supervising all types of testing (including relay testing), construction activities, implementation of P&C designs, RTUs, and troubleshooting across any system inside a substation.

At the same time, my passion has always been power system studies and protection & control. I’ve completed thousands of hours of training on P&C topics. Even though I haven’t formally issued a P&C design, I consider myself a very knowledgeable engineer in that area.

Long story short, I’m considering leaving my mid‑level management position to apply for a P&C or power system studies role. My current income is solid compared to the market, so I’m wondering whether my experience—combined with extensive self‑study—could help me avoid starting over at the bottom of the ladder and allow me to maintain a similar salary.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Any hiring manager who can offer suggestions?

Hi everyone!

This is my first time posting to reddit ever, so I hope I don't goof it up...

I'm looking for some insight and advice on a career switch to power systems engineering. This turned into a way longer post than I anticipated, so I'm sorry about the text wall. It's a lot context I guess.

I'm in a weird position right now due to a lack of introspection so I'll explain my background.

I graduated with a BS in Physics and Mathematics in 2021 and immediately went into a PhD program in Physics at UW-Madison. Long story short, the physics program wasn't working out and instead of sitting with discomfort and trying to understand what I really wanted in life I decided to transfer to the Biophysics program in the same school to study neuroscience because I "thought it was interesting." Fast forward 4 years and I'm coming to terms with the fact that I put myself into a Ph.D. I had no real interest in. I kept pushing thinking that I could always pivot through a postdoc or some crap, but I really do not enjoy any of my career prospects and the work is soul crushing. Looking at a grad date of late next year.

I'm 27 now, been through the academic wringer (and learned to really despise academic research) and am trying to rediscover what I truly want to do. I have a stable long-term relationship (3.5 years) and we hope to be married and start having kids by 31-32yrs old, so I'm putting a serious effort into reevaluating the career I want to have, the work I like to do, and the sectors I could be proud to work in. I want to make an intelligent move because I'm not getting any younger.

My PhD is on some vision science related work using an outdated technique that no industry cares about with little impact. That said, during my time here my favorite tasks have been to design and build experimental apparatuses. I've done some electronics work, dealt with amplifiers and bessel filters, taught myself SolidWorks for CAD, and overall just love devising solutions to technical problems. I've been told many times by engineering grads that I have an engineers mind. I just don't find building microscope and electronic recording rigs specifically fun or engaging, but the process of conceptualizing a project, its parameters/constraints, and design sure is.

All that being said, I have always had a deep interest in renewable energy and power generation. I originally went into undergrad as a civil engineering major because I liked wind turbines and solar panels and power plants, unfortunately before I could consider changing to EE I caught the physics bug due to some intro courses and a dream to be a physicist - been failing upward since then lol. It's obvious to me now that I have a personality that likes to learn many things, so I'm being very cautious about what my next move is.

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Here are my considerations for choosing a career in power systems:

• Alignment of interests:
  • I genuinely have found power generation of all forms fascinating since I was small kid. I drive by a substation and feel enamored by it.
  • I have a mind that likes to break down systems and optimize which I think lends itself well to power distribution and transmission.
  • I come from a rural farming background and because of that want to contribute to sustainable infrastructure
  • I want a career where I can help solve complex problems that I care about (even if there are mundane portions to it)
  • I always liked my electricity and magnetism classes (knowing that physics classes are different to engineering classes)
  • I work in systems neuroscience, but I've always conceptualized neural circuits as literal electrical circuits and think of ways to break them down to understand them physically.
  • I think I would be most interested in transmission/distribution or design work on solar/wind installations.
  • I think I could really feel good about engineering in power and energy. Providing a useful, skillful service to a critical sector that all people benefit from. Being able to help make our power infrastructure more efficient and sustainable is a potential plus if I could leverage into such a position.
• Lifestyle considerations
  • I want to work in a sector with a good degree of job security.
  • I would like more location flexibility (preferably Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan) to be closer to my and my partners families.
  • I am okay with a lower salary compared to other EE disciplines. Mid-career I would be satisfied making $90-110k at in LCOL -MCOL area.
• Work-style considerations
  • Want a career that is reasonably stimulating and scratches my itch for physical sciences but applied to real world problems.
  • I don't think I would mind looking over technical requirements or project specs, being in meetings, or other mundane aspects of engineering work. (I mean that's most work but I've seen people from engineering forums say this portion of engineering really sucks).
  • I enjoy collaborating in teams of people.
  • Want to feel like I'm working on something "concrete" or "real". I want to eventually see the physical manifestation of my work, but I also like using my education to solve problems.

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Certification:

I would definitely need to get my PE license to work in power systems long term. I'm trying to figure out if I need a second bachelors in engineering or if a masters would be more apt.

I contacted admissions at UW-Milwaukee and I would be able to enroll for a BSEE with all gen eds waived that would require only the junior and senior upper division electives. A total of 60 credit hours or two years full-time at a tuition cost of ~$22-24k for 4 semesters.

Ideally I would not go back to school but I'm by no means qualified for power systems engineering roles and a formal training in engineering principles is necessary to do the jobs.

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Master plan:

1. Master out of my PhD after finding a job that is tangential to power systems engineering that leverages my physics and math background.

2. Work for 1-2 years to get a better idea of the field (and to get some work experience since I've only been in academia).

3. Go back for BSEE after getting experience and try to land internships/coops along the way.

4. Get work in distribution, transmission planning, solar / wind design planning and focus on getting a PE license.

5. Live the rest of my life with reasonable job security and work that is just interesting enough that I don't want to drop dead.

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Some questions:

Do you think power systems engineering might be a good fit given my background and interests?

Does power systems engineering have good job security and growth outlook.

What are things looking like for recent EE grads looking to break into power / what does demand look like?

What skills are missing or highly sought after in the field?

Would you recommend a second BS in EE or an MS in EE to break into engineering/design roles (This is with the consideration for PE in the long term - likely in multiple states)?

What kind of job titles / descriptions would be a good starting point to break into power/energy given my background (I have applied to some PV engineering positions at Mortenson, a Field Service Engineer position at a power coop, and some energy analyst positions at non-profits in my area)?

Would hiring managers be willing to take a chance on someone with a second degree in engineering or would I be seen as a "failure to start" kind of candidate?

I think it's difficult to do any personal projects in power systems considering the nature of the field, but does anyone have any ideas for side work before or during future study to show I'm serious about learning the field?

Any other thoughts? I wanna make sure my heads on straight.

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I really appreciate any insight y'all can give. I'm trying to make a sound career choice for the first time in my life. The obvious downsides here would be that I need to reskill into engineering. But I really do think it would be a good profession for me and it would be a 2 year degree instead of 4.

Also feel free to roast me if I'm being delusional and unrealistic, or for writing too damn much :D

Thanks!

G

Hey everyone, I hope this is the right place to ask this, and please note Im a junior so please dont mind any stupid statement I may express and sorry for the long post in advance.

I just wanted to check with you if this is correct:

First the BIG picture:

LV BESS output (integrated inverter, lets say 690 VAC or 800VAC) ->LV AC cables/busbar->LV combiner/LV switchgear (breakers, metering, aux power tap-off) -> STEP UP TRANSFORMER( primary 690/800 V to 20/33/35 kV) it has to be biDirectional ->MV cable->MV switchgear/ RMU (Ring Main Unit or breaker cubicles )-> UTILITY POI/ Collector Substation

Complete List of Components:

BESS Unit ( Battery + Inverter)
LV Busbar/ combiner cabinet
LV Circuit Breakers (ACB/MCCB) per BESS feeder

StepUP power transformer
MV Switchgear( RMU or
Protection Relays, CT's and VT's
Surge Arrectors/ SPD's
Auxilary Transformer
LV axillary distrubution box
UPS
ATS ( automatic transfer Switch)
Metering and measurement control unit

Fire and Gas detection
Temp and humidity controller
MV & LV cables / busbar (TMY copper bus)
Enclosure / container / civil works
Interlocking system

Parameters to specify for each component

Step-up transformer

• Rated Power KVA
  • the transformer's rated kVA must slightly exceed the maximum continuous apparent power the BESS array can push through it
• Rated Voltage
  • 690 V AC or 800VAC/ 20 or 33 or 35 kVA
• Vector Group
  • must match the grounding scheme you intend on both sides (e.g., Dy11 gives you a grounded LV neutral for auxiliary loads while keeping the MV side delta-connected; confirm this matches your PCS's expected grounding).
• Impedance
  • higher impedance limits how much fault current the transformer lets through (helpful for keeping downstream switchgear/cable ratings lower and cost down), but increases voltage drop under load and slightly increases losses. 6–8% is typical for this power class;
• Cooling type
  • ONAN (oil, natural cooling) is standard for this size; if your site is hot and/or high-altitude, either oversize the transformer or specify forced cooling (ONAF)
• Insulation/ temperature class and rise
  • 105°C insulation, ~55–65 K average winding rise
• Tap changer
  • an off-load tap changer (e.g. ±2×2.5%) lets you compensate for a grid voltage that's persistently a bit high or low;
• Oil type and protections
  • Mineral oil (PCB-free); pressure relief valve,
• Buchholz/gas relay, oil/winding temperature indicators, oil level indicator
  • USUALLY BUCHHOLZ for protection
• Noise level
  • ≤ 65 dB @ 0.3 m
• Dimension and weight
• Corrosion protection class
  • Match to site environment (coastal, industrial, desert).

MV Switchgear/RMU

• Rated Voltage
  • 24 kV (for a 20 kV system)
  • pick equipment rated above nominal system voltage (24 kV class equipment for a 20 kV system, 36 kV class for a 33/35 kV system).
• Rated Current (busbar and feeder)
  • must exceed the transformer's MV-side full-load current with margin but the cable/cubicle current rating and the transformer size are usually decoupled (a 630 A-rated RMU cubicle can serve transformers well below its current rating; current rating is about the switchgear's own thermal limits, not a direct multiple of transformer kVA).
• Rated short-time withstand current
  • Must exceed the utility's prospective fault current at your point of connection
  • ex.20–25 kA / 1–3 s
  • get the prospective fault level at your point of connection from the utility (or from a system fault study) and specify switchgear rated at or above it, with margin for network growth.
• Rated Peak withstand Current
  • ~50 kA
  • The "first-cycle" asymmetrical fault current rating; coordinated with the above.
• Insulation Medium
  • Environmental regulations increasingly restrict SF6 (high global-warming-potential gas)
  • SF6, vacuum, or SF6-free (air/dry)
  • SF6
• Internal arc classification
  • e.g. AFLR 20 kA/1 s
  • Personnel safety rating confirm which sides (front/lateral/rear) are accredited.
• Witching Device type per cubicle
  • Load-break switch (manual) vs. vacuum circuit breaker (electrical)
  • Breakers are required wherever protection must clear a fault (e.g., transformer feeder); simple switches are fine for ring/loop sections.
• Withstand voltage (power-frequency & lightning impulse)
  • Confirms insulation coordination with your surge arresters.
• Cable entry & size
  • Bottom entry, up to 1×630 mm² or 3×630 mm²
  • Confirm compatibility with your actual MV cable design.
• Interlocking
• Gas leakage rate (if SF6)
  • decide SF6 vs. vacuum/SF6-free early this affects both environmental compliance and long-term maintenance (SF6 leak-rate monitoring, disposal rules).
• Breaker vs. switch: use an electrically-operated circuit breaker on the transformer feeder cubicle (it needs to clear internal transformer faults fast); simple manual load-break switches are adequate on ring/loop sections that don't need to interrupt fault current.

LV switch Gear

• Main incoming breaker rating (ACB)
  • Size the main incoming breaker(s) to the transformer's LV-side full-load current, i.e. S_transformer / (√3 × V_LV), with headroom
• Per-BESS-feeder breaker rating
  • Size each BESS feeder breaker to that unit's max continuous output current, with margin (don't run breakers at 100% of their frame rating continuously).
• Current transformers (metering/protection)
  • e.g. 5000/5A or 6000/5A, 10P20
  • Ratio should be close to actual full-load current for good metering accuracy, don't oversize the CT "just in case."
• Surge protection (SPD)
  • LV-side transient protection, coordinated with the MV arresters.
  • Type I+II, Iimp ≥ 12.5 kA
• Busbar (TMY copper) cross-section
  • Confirm the busbar's continuous current rating exceeds the calculated (not just nameplate) current with margin, and check short-circuit withstand (thermal + mechanical).

Auxiliary power system

• Aux transformer rating
  • List every auxiliary load (lighting, sockets, fans/heat exchangers, controls, comms, fire system, temp/humidity controller, battery chargers) and sum their connected kVA.
  • 100–200 kVA (scales with the size of the main substation)
  • Must cover lighting, HVAC/heat-exchangers, controls, comms, chargers, with margin — do a simple load list, don't just copy a "typical" number.
• Aux transformer ratio & vector group
  • Size the aux transformer to that sum with margin (reference designs use 100–200 kVA aux transformers on 4.8–6 MVA main substations,  a useful rough ratio is roughly 2–4% of the main transformer's kVA, but always do the actual load list
  • 690/400 V or 800/400 V, Dyn11
• Confirms a neutral is available for single-phase LV loads.
• Main LV aux breaker
  • Sized to aux transformer full-load current
• UPS rating & autonomy
  • e.g. 1 kVA / 30 min, or 1 kW / 8 h
  • Autonomy should exceed the time needed for an operator (or automatic system) to respond, or to ride through the longest expected aux-supply interruption
• ATS essential-load capacity
  • Size the UPS by (a) the kVA of the loads that must ride through an outage (typically protection relays, RTU/comms, fire alarm) and (b) the autonomy time you need
  • e.g. "Recommended Essential-Load Supply Capacity: 3 kVA"
  • Confirms what will keep running (controls, comms, fire system) if the aux transformer or grid tap is lost.
  • Size the ATS by the "essential load" kVA that must be kept alive from a backup source
• Socket/lighting/fan circuit ratings
  • 16 A/2P sockets, 10 A/2P lighting, etc.

 Environmental, mechanical & enclosure

• Operating temperature range
• Relative humidity
• Altitude rating
• IP/protection degree
• Corrosion category (ISO 12944)
• Cooling method
• Dimensions & weight
• Noise
• Standards compliance

I am wondering how protection engineers and technicians change settings if required by studies on HV/MV transmission substation for any live bay?

Does your utility policy allow live changes ? Or shutdown is mandatory for such work?

Thanks!

Dear Engineers,

I need collaboration with expert of power system analysis who can help me to complete the Android app of Power system analysis through server calculation with all the input of system.

quick context, i work vendor side in substation automation and we struggle to fill exactly the profile below, so take this as a market observation not career advice

terminology thing first because it bugs me: what everyone calls "digital substation" is not the substation going digital. transformer stays transformer, breaker stays breaker, primary plant does not change at all. what changes is the secondary system, protection and control and automation moving from dedicated boxes to software on servers. once you see it that way the skill question gets a lot clearer

the profile that gets hired fast splits roughly in three. nobody expects a junior to have all three, but the ones with two are already rare

protection automation and control: relay logic, fault clearing, selectivity, iec 61850 with goose and sampled values. this is the foundation and it does not go away. if anything it matters more once things run virtualized, because now you also need to understand real time behaviour

networking: process bus and station bus, ptp time sync, redundancy like prp and hsr, vlans and traffic separation. when protection is software, network problems become protection problems. most protection people are weak here

devops: linux, git, containers, ansible, ci cd, how to deploy and roll back a config on something you cannot just reboot. almost nobody in classic p&c has this and its exactly where utilities and vendors are short

ai is showing up in tooling first, config validation, automated testing, anomaly detection. not replacing protection logic anytime soon, but being comfortable working next to it will be assumed

where to start without waiting for a job: seapath from linux foundation energy is open source and runs in a vm. libiec61850 lets you play with goose and sampled values on a laptop. put a substation config in git and version it. that alone puts you ahead of most graduates

people who can talk to the protection engineer and the platform engineer get pulled into the interesting work fast. everyone else stays in the lane they started in

Hi all!

I’ve been interviewing with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories for quite some time now. And am finally moving on to an on-site interview in Pullman, WA. It’s for an electronics technician position. I feel pretty confident in things, but was wondering if anyone has interviewed with them in the past and knows what to wear?

It’s a six hour interview with a few different aspects involved, which is tripping me up. Do I go fully formal (tie, etc.)? Or is it more of just a nice pants and short sleeve button up? Any advice would be awesome. Thank you

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all doing well. I would be very grateful for advice from engineers currently working in industry.

From your perspective, which electrical-engineering fields are growing the fastest today or are likely to offer strong opportunities over the next 5–10 years?

My background is primarily in power-system studies, including:

Load-flow / steady-state studies

Short-circuit, protection, transient-stability, and dynamic studies

Voltage ride-through (VRT) and interconnection studies

PSS/E, PSCAD, and ASPEN OneLiner

I also have previous experience in energy efficiency and performance-contracting work, including measurement and verification methods under IPMVP Options A–D.

My bachelor’s and master’s concentrations are in power systems/high voltage. My master’s thesis involved radiation effects on silicon-carbide (SiC) MOSFETs. I also have some exposure to industrial automation, instrumentation, AutoCAD, and basic PLC work, although PLC programming is an area I would need to develop further.

I often hear about data centers, AI-related power infrastructure, grid modernization, renewable-energy integration, battery energy storage, electrification, cybersecurity, and network engineering. With my current background, which of these areas—or other fields—would be a good direction to explore?

I would also appreciate recommendations on useful skills to develop next, such as protection and controls, PLC programming, Python, power electronics, data-center electrical design, battery-storage studies, industrial cybersecurity, or networking.

Thank you very much for your time and for sharing any insight from your experience.

Hi, if you are working as a consultant, engineer, data engineer, software engineer etc. in any power engineering related institution in the US can you share your base salary and benefits? You could also share the name of the institution if you are comfortable. This will help the community understand their value and may be allow them to negotiate back with the institution :) I will start with myself.

—-
Institution: Consulting firm in the South
Area: Power Distribution Planning
Role: Senior Power Engineer (~1 year)
Position: Remote
Base Salary: 145k (~8% bonus, ~10% stocks, 4% 401k match up to 100% of my contribution, $0 health insurance premiums)
Experience: PhD in EE and worked for 2 years in a research lab before joining the firm
Regular work hours: almost always around 50hrs a week (no OT paid but work can be stressful at times)

Background: I have a degree in physics from UC Davis, took some of the upper division EE courses there and have been working as a electronics/rf tech since in the Sacramento area. I've been frustrated by my lack of employability in more advanced roles (need experience to get experience!), or the need for a degree specifically in an engineering field, or a professional license, and am contemplating going back to school at Sac state for power engineering but it would be a long term plan because of conflict with my work schedule.

So I'm looking for opinions from people already in the field and with more knowledge on what companies/utilities would be open to a less traditional study route, is it even worth it in this economy to try to self-study? Are there any projects that would definitely make me be taken more seriously?

What did your entry-level power engineering interviews actually ask, and what did your first year look like day to day?

I'm a senior EE student targeting entry-level roles in protection, substation, or distribution engineering. I'm not looking for generic advice — I want to know what people actually experienced:

1. What did your interviews specifically ask? When people say "know your fundamentals" — which fundamentals specifically? Did they test symmetrical components calculations, relay coordination concepts, power flow, per-unit system, something else entirely? What caught you off guard that you wish you'd prepared for?

2. What did your first year actually look like day to day? Job descriptions are vague — did you spend most of your time on relay settings, ETAP studies, field work, report writing, CAD drawings? What did you wish you'd known or studied before starting?

Any subfield or employer type is relevant — utility, consulting firm, manufacturer, whatever. The more specific the better.

Any and all responses welcomed.

Thanks

While the market for digital substations is growing, retrofitting or deploying fully digital SF₆ gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) is a massive investment.

For utilities looking to balance cost and ROI, which specific parts or health metrics should be prioritized for digitalization?

Are we better off focusing strictly on continuous SF₆ gas density and leakage monitoring, or should we invest heavily in digitalizing circuit breaker mechanics (e.g., trip coil current, contact wear, and partial discharge)? I would love to hear what asset managers are prioritizing.

Recently graduated with a BS applied physics, currently working as a test technician in power systems. The work I've been doing has gotten me really interested in pursuing power systems studies as an engineer, specifically power electronics.

Was wondering if anyone had any advice on the feasibility of pursuing this? Planning on getting an MSEE at some point, but was wondering how necessary that is given my current position. Thanks

evaluating whether to replace aging transformer infrastructure that is still functional but older. trying to build the business case around efficiency improvements and trying to find realistic numbers rather than optimistic manufacturer claims, someone at qxg electrical mentioned that the efficiency gains alone rarely close the business case on their own, it is usually the combination with reduced maintenance and failure risk that actually gets replacement approved

curious whether engineers who have done replacement programmes have seen efficiency improvements that were meaningful enough to justify replacement on efficiency grounds alone or whether the business case typically needs to include reliability and maintenance costs as well

Hello, I'm hoping someone can help me troubleshoot an issue I'm seeing while trying to solve a case in TARA.

I'm using a large power flow model that includes topology for all transmission buses, generators, loads, lines, etc. in the Western Interconnection (its a WECC base case model). I have this model as a .sav and .raw format. The .sav format solves easy in the PSS/E, no issue. The .raw file cannot converge in TARA. I've tried solving the .sav model in PSSE then converting it to .raw format, then trying it in TARA, but still same issue. This makes me think that something with TARA's solution parameters are creating the problem (or not accurately resolving it while the case is being solved).

TARA is saying there is a voltage control/convergence issue. There are 100+ switched shunts oscillating and hunting for their voltage target, but never able to reach them. I've tried solving the solution by disabling TAP adjustments and Shunt adjustments, but still seeing non-convergence. Further digging in, I believe that two of the buses effecting this voltage mismatch may be two 3-winding transformers, but I'm stuck on how to proceed from here.

I'm still pretty new to power flow solution parameters and troubleshooting, so any tips on what to try next would be greatly appreciated! Reason why I need TARA to solve the case as I'm using PowerGEMS tools to run Prop TrLim studies with these models. Thank you for any help that can be provided!

EDIT: Thank you to everyone that commented and provided your thoughts and suggestions! This is an awesome community. I found the issue and was able to solve the case in TARA. There were two, 3-winding transformers where one of the 3 windings' resistance value was too high. My thought process is that this high resistance caused a large MW loss which then resulted in large current flow and then voltage drop. Those voltage control devices tried to compensate but were not able to settle on a voltage (someone please correct me if my assumption is wrong here).