Feature Story

Power Engineering

Generating electricity is more than turning on a switch—a lot more. Power engineering is a complex and interesting field that involves many facets of engineering—electrical, chemical, structural, and mechanical, to name a few. It includes not only generating power but also transmitting and distributing it. Power engineering involves traditional steam turbine engines as well all many renewable energy sources—wind, solar, bio mass, and fuel cells.

Traditional Power Plants—Steam-Powered Turbines
Traditional power plants use an energy source, such as coal, natural gas, or bio-fuel, to boil water to create steam. David draws the analogy of boiling water in a tea kettle. The steam spins a turbine, which in turn generates energy. In addition to the fuel required, this process also consumes great quantities of water. It requires water to boil as well as to keep all the systems cool. The water going in must be ultra pure to protect the equipment and prevent mineral build up and corrosion. The water coming out must also be clean to meet environmental requirements. There is a lot of chemistry involved in the water purification.

Developing Renewable Sources of Energy The power industry is also actively pursuing cost-effective ways to tap renewable sources of energy to reduce carbon emissions, lower cost, and conserve nonrenewable fossil fuels. A large project under way in California will soon be generating power equivalent to a traditional power plant using photovoltaic panels to create one of the first large-scale solar powered power plants.

In addition, the United States is the world leader in developing new wind power. To date, Texas has the greatest number of installed wind turbines. Where early wind turbines might have been 50 or 60 feet tall, modern wind turbines may be 300 feet in the air with blades 150 feet long. Power engineers are currently working on technologies to maximize wind power generation—including even larger turbines and strategies to place turbines off shore to take advantage of consistent winds.

Wave power is another new frontier in power generation. Scientists are working with mechanical and electrical engineers and oceanographers to capture the power of the tides to produce energy.

New Nuclear
In addition to the innovations in renewable energy sources, there are new, innovative designs for even safer, nuclear power generation, which have consistently proven to be reliable and less expensive. The new designs have been engineered to require fewer moving parts, which makes them even more reliable. There is currently talk about how to make nuclear power plants operate for 80 years, or about twice as long as they were first thought capable of operating. Not surprisingly, engineers will play a major role in this remarkable effort.

The Shifting Balance of Power
Today about half of the energy in the United State is produced by plants that burn coal to generate steam, an additional 15 to 18 percent use natural gas in this process. Of the balance, 20 percent of power comes from nuclear plants, and the remaining 12 to 15 percent comes from renewable sources. These proportions are likely to change dramatically over the next several decades as a new wave of nuclear power plants and alternative sources kicks in. Other new sources being developed are photovoltaic, fuel cells, and hydrogen. In addition, many buildings are developing ways to generate much of their own power and may potentially sell excess power generated back to the power companies.

Supply and Distribution
Power generation is just half of the story; power must also be transmitted and distributed. The power grid for the Eastern seaboard of the United States is the largest and most complex machine ever built. You may remember a few years ago when a power grid problem on a single power line in Ohio took out the whole power grid in the Northeast. Power transmission and distribution are very complex. Transmission planners use physics to build transmission lines to meet demand. There's a lot of work being done to measure how the transmission and distribution grids operate and how to make transmission more efficient by reducing power loss during transmission due to resistance of the wire.

Power Engineering = Interesting Work + Opportunities
There are lots of interesting things to learn and explore in power engineering and many different career options. Power engineers need not work for power companies either. Many big engineering firms do work with power companies. And power engineers can work anywhere in the world they want—from a big city to a small town. Power is everywhere, and so is the need for power engineers.