AQ: Power industry engineers
The power industry has many tentacles. Energy production is one key subset, the design, manufacture, installation and operation of hydro, nuclear, fossil, renewables, etc is continuing to grow especially in the renewable area. Then there is the transmission of energy which includes the design/manufacture/construction/maintenance of substations, protection and control systems, overhead and underground lines, series and shunt compensation, etc. Last there is the distribution of the energy to the customers at the lower voltages which includes many of the transmission opportunities but introduces other niche areas like power quality, smart metering, distributed generation, etc.
It’s not as simple as stating you want a PHD in the power industry with hands on experience without first knowing the ins and outs of the business. As has been previously mentioned, get your BS in EE with a slant toward power. Get a job in a utility and learn the business top to bottom so you can actually make an intelligent decision on what area of the business floats your boat. Once you know that then pursue an advanced degree in that specific area (the real bonus is most companies will pay for it).
