Power engineering

Power engineering is the subfield of electrical engineering that deals with power
systems, specifically electric power transmission and distribution, power conversion, and
electromechanical devices. Out of necessity, power engineers also rely heavily on the
theory of control systems. A power engineer supervises, operates, and maintains
machinery and boilers that provide heat, power, refrigeration, and other utility services to
heavy industry and large building complexes.


Power engineering deals with the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity
as well as the design of a range of related devices. These include transformers, electric
generators, electric motors and power electronics. In many regions of the world, governments maintain an electrical network that connects a variety electric generators together with users of their power.

This network is called apower grid. Users purchase electricity from the grid avoiding the costly exercise of having to generate their own. Power engineers may work on the design and maintenance of the power grid as well as the power systems that connect to it. Such systems are called on-grid power systems and may supply the grid with additional power, draw power from
the grid or do both.Power engineers may also work on systems that do not connect to the grid. These systems are called off-grid power systems and may be used in preference to on-grid systems for a variety of reasons.

For example, in remote locations it may be cheaper for a mine to
generate its own power rather than pay for connection to the grid and in most mobile
applications connection to the grid is simply not practical.Today, most grids adopt three-phase electric power with an alternating current. This choice can be partly attributed to the ease with which this type of power can be generated, transformed and used. Often (especially in the USA), the power is split before it reaches residential customers whose low-power appliances rely upon single-phase electric power. However, many larger industries and organizations still prefer to receive the three-phase power directly because it can be used to drive highly efficient electric
motors such as three-phase induction motors.