Career change from Low Voltage Power to Subtation Engineer

Hi All,

I've been in the consulting business for 5 year doing power, lighting, fire alarm and communications systems design for buildings.  I just got my PE in power systems and my focus in college was Power Systems Engineering.  I might have an opportunity to change career to subtation design engineer.  I know this is a whole new world when it comes to high voltage and substations but my questions are: Is it a good field? How long does it takes to learn enough to be able to design a substation?  Will it be hard to start all over again designing something totally diferent? Has someone been through a career switch like this? Any input is appreciated,  Thanks.

A lot depends on the company you work for. Some have people work on specialized areas, others not so much. I work for a consultant that does substation design, and it takes a couple years to get a new engineer up to speed on some of the more complex designs. Can't speak about starting over, this was my first engineering job. I don't see it slowing down any time soon. Too much to upgrade.

Ken PE 3.0 said:

A lot depends on the company you work for. Some have people work on specialized areas, others not so much. I work for a consultant that does substation design, and it takes a couple years to get a new engineer up to speed on some of the more complex designs. Can't speak about starting over, this was my first engineering job. I don't see it slowing down any time soon. Too much to upgrade.

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Yes, even tough I'm a PE it will take me some time to get used to do this type of design.  What programs are you using to draw and layout the substation devices and all that? AutoCAD? Do you model it in 3D?

Typically Autocad or Microstation, again depending on the utility. I have never seen 3d modeling for anything in a substation. We typically do not reinvent the wheel.

Ken PE 3.0 said:

Typically Autocad or Microstation, again depending on the utility. I have never seen 3d modeling for anything in a substation. We typically do not reinvent the wheel.

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Interesting. Thank you. In my case, the company I could work for is a consulting firm that provides services for many clients.  What codes do you use? NESC? What others? sorry for so many questions but I have an interview on Monday and I want to be ready and have all the information I can get to make a good decision.

carlospe said:

Interesting. Thank you. In my case, the company I could work for is a consulting firm that provides services for many clients.  What codes do you use? NESC? What others? sorry for so many questions but I have an interview on Monday and I want to be ready and have all the information I can get to make a good decision.

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You're a PE with electrical background and design experience.  If they can afford you then you are a shoe-in.  You're learning curve should be much lower and easier than a new hire out of college.  I have worked as a field  protection and control engineer for 8 years now but my first job out of college was as a substation design engineer for a utility.  You're biggest hurdle will be learning what each component does inside the fence such as phase/neutral reactors, wavetraps, PTs/CCVTs, tuning units, power transformers, autotransformers, GSU transformers, SF6-gas/oil breaker differences and just the different types of bus work [IWCB, L, pipe,etc. different types of switches, ground grids, ground mats, etc.  In a big company we used a set of design standards to do our projects.  We then handed our marked up prints to a drafter to draft.  Once drafted we had to do a review to verify all of the major issues and coordination with transmission line/relay engineering/etc all agreed and then it was released to the field for construction.  If you're working for a small consulting company you'll probably do the engineering and the drafting.  I would think that you'd get design/drafting standards from your customer right?

Ken PE 3.1 said:

Typically Autocad or Microstation, again depending on the utility. I have never seen 3d modeling for anything in a substation. We typically do not reinvent the wheel.

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We use Microstation and do many designs in 3D.