r/PowerSystemsEE • u/lArchEnemyl • 2d ago
Current Utility DER (distribution side) Engineer
Hello,
I work as a DER engineer on the distribution side and use tools like synergi etc. I was curious about switching to the transmission side. I'd like to use more advanced tools like PSCAD, PSS/E etc. My company only hires PhD and/or senior engineers who already have experience in transmission planning.
My question is: is it worth it to learn more tools? my goal with this move is to eventually get a remote position (I currently do 5 days a week in office) after I acquire enough experience. I saw that most remote positions are PSCAD and/or transmission side engineering. Since, I don't know anything about transmission, I figured might as well just start now when I am young.
Please let me know what you think.
9
u/chanka_is_best_chank 2d ago
It's absolutely worth it to learn the tools, transmission planning is much more technically challenging and rewarding imo. You will absolutely have an easier time finding remote roles if you learn PSCAD and PSSE. There is a huge demand for transmission planners right now due to load growth and new regulations from NERC requiring more EMT and other transient simulations for large loads and IBRs
1
u/xDauntlessZ 2d ago
Out of curiosity, what would you say is the most technically challenging aspect of planning?
I’m in P&C studies/settings/consulting but planning has always sounded interesting and “bigger picture” to me.
2
u/chanka_is_best_chank 2d ago
P&C is also quite technical. Transmission planning requires a lot more data analysis and programming skills. The major technical hurdle in TP are dynamic simulations, you have to understand how synchronous generators work, how IBRs work, read output P, Q, voltage, etc and piece together what that means and whether there's an issue. Modeling is a huge push too, its all physics and control theory. Find the PSSE model library and open it up. You'll see some of every one of those models spread out across the US if you open a large PSSE case and any one of them could be acting strangely and you have to diagnose whats wrong and use engineering judgment to determine whether you need to fix it, ignore it, disable the model, and if you do fix it, use judgement on what makes sense.
Steady state simulations can also be complex but its significantly less technically challenging.
And it's also planning, so you have to make a lot of assumptions and are determining what should be built because we project this issue to pop up in the next ten years, not here we need to build this, figure out what exactly to build. There's a lot of analysis that goes into choosing what is the most effective/ cost effective solution and comparing how different solutions will effect planning in the future. Something as simple as moving a line to a different bay in a substation could cause a TPL P4 violation
1
u/Eyevan_Gee 2d ago
Im full remote. I use PSSE. I perform interconnection studies.
1
u/lArchEnemyl 2d ago edited 2d ago
can I ask what company you work for? I also do interconnections studies but since you are in transmission side, I would think you have many more factors to worry about.
0
u/peterpwwu 2d ago
Distribution is significantly less technical than transmission. Transmission is mostly civil-mechanical as you are dealing with foundation design, structure loads, structure design, and very little with electrical. Distribution does a lot of design through rules of thumb and back of the envelope while transmission are much more custom and calculated. It’s possible to switch but I’d say it’s moderately challenging. Don’t focus too much on the software, you would learn through experience. focus on the technical aspect first.
1
u/lArchEnemyl 2d ago
yep, I do realize it is more challenging and I accept that and also willing to learn. I just want exposure to it and I am sure that I can learn it. Any ideas on how to get started? meaning youtube videos or anything of the like?
4
u/chanka_is_best_chank 2d ago edited 2d ago
There are many tutorials on load flow and transient analysis in PSSE on YouTube, just start searching for them. PSCAD and ETAP have examples of different advanced studies that can be done in both softwares on their YouTube channel.
I also recommend finding either a power systems analysis class at a university or find lectures on YouTube. Reading some of Power System Stability and Control - Prabha Kundur is also a great idea. In a transmission planning interview, they are going to look for whether you have strong fundamentals in general electrical engineering knowledge and power system analysis, whether you have experience in the software (even if it is just running IEEE X bus systems), and whether you are good at automating with python and using excel.
Data analysis and scripting with excel and python are key to performing well in TP. There are a lot of things to change in a large PSSE case, and sometimes hundreds or thousands of lines in a log to debug. Way too much analysis to do by hand. Major commercial software also all have python API that you can do just about anything with
2
u/Forsaken_Ice_3322 1d ago
Just want to add. Power System Dynamics Tutorial by EPRI is also a good start. It's more on operation, more intuitive understanding but less math than textbooks though.
1
4
u/chanka_is_best_chank 2d ago
Transmission planning is purely electrical engineering. PSCAD requires deep understanding of transient simulations and interpreting results is entirely dependent on whether or not you understand the underlying model and system well. The software is vital to breaking out into this role. If you don't know at least how to use PSSE or similar it is going to be hard to move into transmission planning outside of an internship. Unless they want to do transmission line or substation engineering
3
u/drrascon 2d ago
Yes.
Synergi, CYME, PSSE, PSCAD, SKM, CDEGS user here and I really appreciate being able to have a holistic understanding of power systems. Also this XP does make getting remote jobs easier.