The U.S. electricity grid is poised for a dramatic transformation, enabled by Smart Grid technologies, to address national and worldwide existential necessities: meeting the increasing electric energy needs, reducing the reliance on fossil fuels, and thus restoring and boosting the economy. The 2020 World Energy Outlook from the International Energy Agency estimates that the current value of the U.S. electricity grid is over $1 trillion, and the total cost of replacing it with a Smart Grid is $4~5 trillion. If a Smart Grid is fully deployed across the U.S., the country could expect to save $130 billion annually. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DoE) Quadrennial Energy Review (QER) found that 1.5 million new jobs across the energy sector will need to be filled by 2030, with many of these positions paying 50 to 80 percent more than the average annual salary. However, achieving the goals of "Smart Grid" is hampered by a growing shortage of qualified electric power and energy engineers. With an aging workforce and looming retirements, the power and energy industry continually faces a hiring gap and reports that they cannot find skilled workers to fill open positions. According to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural resources, 77% of energy companies find it difficult to hire qualified employees.
The Certificate of Graduate Study (COGS) in Power Systems Engineering is offered by the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department has been regularly teaching power systems related graduate courses, and this COGS puts the existing ECE expertise and newly developed power systems courses together in one package allowing students to gain a meaningful background that will prepare them for a career in the power and energy area.
It consists of four (4) graduate courses to develop graduates with a technical foundation in electric power systems focused on the operation of emerging systems, as described in below Program Curriculum. Through this four-class sequence, students will be able to articulate the core concepts of conventional system analysis, different renewable system analysis, electricity market and different smart grid enabling techniques. Additionally, one of the COGS electives could be a MS or PhD level research / thesis / dissertation, where students work on real-world power systems related problems under the supervision of faculty.
Overall, the Power Systems Engineering COGS will provide students with breadth and depth in theoretical foundations of emerging power systems, as well as practical hands-on project experience. As a result of this COGS, we expect our graduates to be particularly marketable, attracting many employers looking to hire highly qualified smart-grid ready power engineers.