Focus on education- “Smart” Electric Power Systems 101: an employer´s perspective

From the early days of Edison and Westinghouse, the educational institutions have played catch up with the developments in the electric energy industry. In those early years, the terms Electrical Engineering and Power Systems Engineering were used synonymously. Over the past two decades, the number of colleges and universities offering graduate degree programs in Electric Power Systems has dwindled, resulting in a shortage of entry level power system engineers. Over the years, events in the electric power industry have evolved the power systems engineering curricula in academic institutions. Of significance were the advent of analog computers and digital computers that helped transform power systems engineering education. Then there were the blackout events of the mid 1960s and 1970s, which further transformed power systems engineering education to better focus on the methods and algorithms for implementation in Energy Management Systems and control centers. In the aftermath of the industry de-regulation of the mid 1990s, the educational institutions were rather slow in responding to the new requirements. Now with the focus on renewable energy and "Smart Grid", and the increased levels of funding for research and development in these areas, colleges and universities need to take a fresh look at their power engineering curricula to produce the work force for tomorrows "Smart" power system. The requirements and the need for highly trained power systems engineers, is further magnified by the "graying" of the work force in the electric power industry. Employers, utilities and vendors alike, are fiercely competing for a limited number of highly educated and talented power systems engineers to meet their staffing needs. From an employer\´s perspective, we are faced with the prospect of hiring entry level staff with basic qualifications and developing significant in-house and on-the-job training programs. The academia can step up to the challenge by taking a fresh look at - - their power systems engineering education curricula. The power systems engineer entering the electric power industry today will need to have a diverse set of skills and be a jack of all trades. Aside from the basic mathematical and science background, having computer programming skills is a must. The new power systems graduate must have a thorough understanding of the physics of the power systems with focus on generation, transmission, and distribution systems and infrastructures. In addition, the new graduate needs to have a basic background in operations research and economics, and understand the mechanics of energy markets. Given the fact that the "Smart Grid" is based on increased levels of communications and information technology methods, the new graduate must be skilled in both areas. Understanding of the new energy production and storage technologies will also be a requirement. Last, but not least, the new graduate must possess strong interpersonal communication skills. In this presentation we will focus on the educational requirements for new power systems engineers. We will address the requirements from an employer\´s perspective. We will also discuss how the industry can take a more active role in defining the educational requirements for power systems engineers entering the work force.