ECE Information Night
Career and Course Information on
Power Stream
Presented by YunWei (Ryan) Li Yunwei.li@ece.ualberta.ca March 2008
1. Opportunities in power industry Two major trends in the power industry
• Aging employees • Renewed interest in energy supply and environment
% of employment 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 Age of Employee Average Age for Electricity Sector is 44.2
One-third of employees are expected to retire in the next ten years
2. Types of jobs in power industry Power Systems
Utilities Industry/ Commercial Facilities Design & consulting Companies Manufacturers (system studies)
Power Apparatus
(including power electronic devices)
Manufacturers
Power systems companies For other applications (e.g. power supply robotics)
For traditional power systems and alternative energy
Electric machines and drives
3. Example companies of power industry
Alberta Utility
AESO, ATCO, Epcor Enmax, Altalink, FortisAlberta, TransAlta Syncrude, Suncor, and other major industrial facilities
Canada
Utilities in Each province (e.g. BC Hydro) Car plants, and any other large plants SNC etc. Bentrel
World
Many
Industry systems Consulting & design Manufacturer
Many (e.g. oil refinery)
SNC, Fluor-D, Colt, Stantec Service branch of internationals (ABB, GE …)
B&V, SNC
ABB, Simens, GE, Vestas…
GE, ABB, Rockwell, Honeywell…
4. How to prepare for a power job?
Core electives:
Courses
• EE430 - power system I (for power as second stream) • EE431 - power electronics • EE432 - variable frequency drive (with a lab) • EE433 - power system II (with a lab) Sample electives: • EE404 – Reliability engineering • EE460 – Control systems II • EE461 – Digital control • CMPE490 - Design of micro-processor based systems • CMPE401- Computer Interfacing • EE452 – Physical electronics • EE489 - Telecomm systems engineering • Some graduate level courses (such as EE530 Power quality, EE633 circuit modeling)
4. How to prepare for a power job?
Research/Experience
1) Power related research activities at U of A
• Dr. Dinavahi: Power system transients and its simulation • Dr. Li: Power electronics and distributed generation • Dr. Knight: Electric machines and drives • Dr. Koval: Reliability and industrial power systems • Dr. Salmon: Power electronics • Dr. Xu: Power quality and distributed generation
2) Programs to get involved
• Co-op or summer jobs • Dean’s research • NSERC summer research program • Talk to professors directly (design project ideas, graduate studies)
5. Final words
• The prospect of power engineering is getting quite good. A lot of job opportunities is emerging for the next 10 years
• Power jobs are more stable and good for a balanced life style. Starting salary in Alberta power companies is about $60k or higher. You can get a higher pay if working for industrial companies such as Syncrude. • There is a potential that power may emerge as a hot field in the next 20 to 30 years (with a focus on new energy sources) • Power industry also employs students with other backgrounds (computer hardware and software, telecomm, electronics)