How do we find and train the next generation of electric power workers for the smart grid ?

I have blogged on many occasions about the aging utility workforce in North America, Western Europe, and Japan. For example, The populations of some EU member states such as Germany are decreasing, while in others populations may be stable or increasing, but in many cases workforces are decreasing because particpation rates especially among older workers are decreasing.  According to research from Ovum, in many EU countries one third or more of the utility workforce is over 50, which with decreasing participation rates among older workers, means the utility industry is facing a crisis of decreasing headcount and less experienced workers.

In countries like Germany and Japan, the population is aging and shrinking.  In others such as the US, in the 90's the participation rate declined as life expectancy increased.  The problem is exacerbated in the utility industry, where the age of many utility workers in the world's advanced economies is over 55.  The second challenge is that as we expand and replace our existing electric and other utility networks with renewable energy and intelligent networks (smart grids), new skills, especially digital technology skills, are required.

During my travels I have also heard many times about the shortage of electric power engineers even in relatively young countries such as Brazil and Mexico.

Wanda Reder is the immediate past-president for IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) and it was during her tenure at the PES that the IEEE PES Scholarship Plus program was initiated to attract more young engineers into electric power engineering.  She has just published a very interesting article that summarizes the current situation with respect to the aging workforce, the programs that PES has implemented, and some recommendations for the power and energy industry to address the crisis.

The aging workforce crisis

Several organizations have surveyed the U.S. utility workforce including the electric power and water and wastewater industries.  I have seen different statistics, but basically they all agree that sometime between 2014 and 2020 about half the utility workforce will be eligible to retire, including engineers and skilled workers.  But even more critically for the future of our electric and water infrastructure, faculty in higher education institutions who are needed to train the next generation of electric power, water and wastewater engineers are also retiring at a frightening rate.

There is a factor that is mitigating what at face value looks like an immediate, critical shortage of engineers and technicians.  The Center for Energy Workforce Development has surveyed  electric power and integrated utilities and found that the uncertain financial climate has motivated many workers to continue working after retirement.  Often they return to work for the utility as contractors.   That is the good news.  The not so good news is that this has in turn slowed down the rate at which utilities are hiring new employees.  But delaying retirement can only defer the inevitable. The crisis remains, it has just been delayed by a few years.

Smart grid makes electric power sexy

As I have blogged about before, the net generation of electric power engineers has grown up in the digital age.   In the sphere of design utilities are finding that 3D model-based design technology can help.  The next generation is conversant with communications, media, and digital technologies, having been brought up with the internet and gaming technology, PSPs, XBoxes, and Wiis. Modern 3D model-based design applications, which use 3D visualization tools that were developed for the gaming industry, provide an environment that is much more familiar and stimulating for the millennial generation, who may perceive traditional 2D design and paper construction drawings as something left over from the dark ages.

Smart grid is all about converting our existing analog grid into a digital grid.  It requires new technology and new tools.  According to Ms. Reder, new engineers are really excited about renewables, automation, and high-tech solutions, which are all part of smart grid.  She sees this reflected at industry meetngs where half of the papers and seminars these days are about smart grid.

Knowledge transfer

We are very lucky that the older generation of engneers and technicians are not leaving the workforce when they are eligible to retire because it creates increased opportunities for knowledge transfer.  As I have blogged, utilities are taking advantage of their experienced workers by creating teams that combine experienced and younger engineers and technicians.  The younger team members are comfortable with the new digital technology, while the older team members are experienced in the existing analog technology.  This creates an opportunity for information to flow bidirectionally.  The younger engineers and technicians gain knowledge and wisdom about the existing electric power grid and the older generation has the opportunity to learn about the newer, digital technology..

For example, a large U.S. utility, which is developing 3D models for all of its 3000 substations as part of a program to increase the productivity of their substation designers, has found that 3D model-based design faciliates knowledge transfer between experienced designers and recently hired, young designers. They have found that by forming substation modeling teams of young designers who are comfortable with 3D model-based design but have limited experience in electric power design together with an experienced electric power designer as a mentor, they can optimize the transfer of knowledge and experience in the process of developing 3D models of their substations assets.  The good news is that because there is a trend for experienced workers to remain in the workforce longer, there is still time for utilities to implement programs like this one.

Attracting new engineers

According to Ms. Reder,  hiring of new engineers declined in the 1990s and 2000s to such as extent that many university power engineering programs were faced with declining enrollment.   In additon there was limited support for university research in electric power.  The result was that many traditionally strong electric power engineering programs were closed.

In April 2009 PES issued a report that identified six objectives

1. Double the production of undergraduate and graduate students in power engineering
2. Provide $4M in funding for undergraduate power engineering scholarships
3. Create 2,000 internship and cooperative opportunities for electrical engineering students
4. Hire 80 new faculty over the next five years to replac retiring faculty, to increase enrollments, and to broaden educational offerings.
5. Raise annual non-equipment funding of university power engineering research from $50M to $100M over the next five to eight years
6. Revise the current education model by creating five University Centers of Excellence

The first three objectives target attracting more undergraduate power engineering sudents. The other objectives were aimed at rebuilding power and energy faculties in universities. 

I've blogged previously about the IEEE PES Scholarship Plus program which was designed to help attract undergraduate electrical engineering students to electric power engineering by providing financial support and internships for hands-on experience.  Ms. Reder says that these scholarships, which initially were targeted towards U.S. students only, will now be available internationally.

According to Ms. Reder, the PES workforce report led to the Department of Energy's (DOE) decision to allocate $100 million in stimulus funding for smart grid education. That money has gone to help train craft workers, engineers, community colleges, universities and other aspects of academia and industry in aspects of smart grid technology.

I think that Ms. Reder's most important point is that if the smart grid is going to be successful the power and energy industry needs to get serious about supporting the kind of programs that the PES has proposed.  She asks for help from the industry in providing financial support, offering meaningful career experiences and encouraging professionalism through networking and lifelong education.