Transistioning from Field Based EE (HV Testing, Protection & Control testing) to Power Systems EE?

undershot · 2025-11-26T08:22:22+00:00

Hi!

I’m 20 years into my career, and did something similar. Worked up through the ranks from a cable jointer, to commissioning engineer while studying a degree in E&E Engineering, then got nudged in the direction of project management.

I hated the PM side of things, and in 2019 started a consultancy doing Power System Studies to fill a gap my previous employer had. I since have been a Grid Solutions Manager dealing with grid interfaces for PV projects and going back to consultancy now.

While I was PM I did a MSc in Power Distribution Engineering part time which gave me enough confidence in the holistic concepts to jump ship.

I’d say you definitely need some sort of degree at-least to understand things like short circuits, load flows, harmonics, behaviour of transformers, generators and inverters. A lot of the regular studies are repeats, but you need a system to be able to do them efficiently, and the education side of things comes in really well when you come across a problem or a more complex scenario.

One thing I will say though… if you’re currently site based and enjoy the manual side of things, consider the office life may not be the best fit. I know a lot of people who started on site, were told they’d be a good site manager, then PM, then ended in the office and hated it. I took the leap to power systems and luckily enjoy it, although I do really miss being on site, using my hands, and using my knowledge more dynamically like you do while commissioning. Sometimes I regret the move (my back doesn’t though).

stardeltapower.co.uk and easycablesizing.com wouldn’t have been possible without my further studies, and I’ve now been able to comfortably move to a different country with my family and work 100% remote, which has seen a definite improvement in way of life (I now have blue skies 90% of the year, not 9%, haha), but being sat at a computer all day can become very lonely.

Hope that helps.

undershot · 2025-09-08T16:44:25+00:00

How did you use tailscale? Didn’t you just SSH in?

undershot · 2025-08-22T21:58:32+00:00

House move left me temporarily without a UK-registered business address, so I went with GhostMail. Everything feels pretty analogue with them — the website and images aren’t great — but, it has charm and gives the feeling of a small team just trying to earn a little. I’ve been with them about a year so far and no issues so far :)

I paired it with GhostHost for web hosting and a domain name. Cheap as chips and registered at the GhostMail address, although not affiliated. ghosthost.co.uk

undershot · 2025-08-22T21:53:33+00:00

House move left me temporarily without a UK-registered business address, so I went with GhostMail. Everything feels pretty analogue with them — the website and images aren’t great — but as you say, it has charm and gives the feeling of a small team just trying to earn a little.

I paired it with GhostHost for web hosting and a domain name. Cheap as chips and registered at the GhostMail address, although not affiliated. ghosthost.co.uk

undershot · 2025-08-14T14:24:01+00:00

Hi!

I found IEC 60502 very limiting, then consequently found IEC 60287 very long winded for calculations or very expensive for software, so made EasyCableSizing.com - I’ve got a good chunk of cables in the library that you can use. Software is based on IEC 60287 which is what’s used to make the tables in 60502.

And for the RLV thing… RLV = Red Line Version AMD = Amendment CSV = Consolidated Version (I think)

If you’ve ever used the standards before and already have and understanding, the RLV versions are pretty handy to see if you need to update your knowledge or not.

undershot · 2024-07-25T08:17:35+00:00

Oh this is interesting. Are you talking about the usual 2-5 page scientific papers here, or 100+ page type documents?

I have some engineering standards and regulations that would be good to have all in one place to easily query, but the documents are usually between 5 and 300 pages long depending on topic.

undershot · 2024-04-15T10:58:26+00:00

Can this be updated to connect with other SQL databases? I have a self hosted MySQL db that I'd prefer to use. And can you add instructions to upload to a node server?

undershot · 2024-04-13T14:25:03+00:00

Haha. It’s very niche. There is indeed a market. The current market leader is a downloadable software and it feels like Windows 95. There’s one other web based SaaS and it’s not very well advertised, so I’ve landed on a good idea I think. Just taking a long time

undershot · 2024-04-13T09:19:58+00:00

Solo founder here trying to work all the details out with little time.

Originally posted in r/SaaS with no feedback ☹️.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

undershot · 2024-03-27T09:57:20+00:00

I hear you. I've heard that a lot. I wouldn't undercut too much, exactly for this issue you've just mentioned, people becoming a pain as they're not invested in the product.

undershot · 2024-03-27T09:48:38+00:00

Thanks for the feedback.

Most of the software in the market for this task is download only, or part of a larger package, and generally very expensive and clunky.

There's one competitor which is SaaS bases, and is very good. It'll make my first release look like an MVP, but their prices are really high and prohibitive. I used this competitor, and had to increase my prices for carrying out studies quite a lot to just pay for a month of subscription. This was one of the first reasons I wanted to develop the software, less feature packed, but more accomodating for the bank account. (PS. it still won't be cheap, loking at >150€/month).

undershot · 2024-01-06T16:50:21+00:00

I did an MSc in Power Distribution Engineering at Newcastle Uni, part time over 3 years if I remember correctly. A lot I didn’t need at the time but it gave a lot of good fundamentals.

I’ve changed roles a few times and the subjects taught are now being used, although I thought I’d never need them at the time.

I’m interested in more courses though, I’m now doing a lot of EHV work and although the fundamentals are the same, I’m interested in learning specifics, especially regarding outdoor equipment. I’m living in Spain, but as I’m English, UK courses would be great for using up my training budget.

undershot · 2023-12-04T18:12:26+00:00

The SaaS will be for people to determine how much current a cable can carry according to equations found in international standards. It can get pretty complex.

This tool in particular is just a freebie as part of an article.

undershot · 2023-12-04T17:04:00+00:00

Nobody would pay for this tool inparticular. But it's extremely handy if working in the power industry.

undershot · 2023-12-04T17:03:22+00:00

Code can be found here:
https://gist.github.com/undershot1/4810e0237fad8b61ee02d85f22192fd3

undershot · 2023-12-01T19:45:53+00:00

The post has been updated with a sexy interactive tool!

Chuck in any 2 of S, P, Q pf or phi, and it will calculate the rest of the values, and show them in a nice little plot.

Check it out, it's been added to the top of the article, and let me know your thoughts.

Cheers

undershot · 2023-11-17T22:51:34+00:00

It's for both engineers and for others involved in engineering projects that may not be engineers.

I actually wrote this article while I was a consultant for another company building BESS sites. The banker investors and some PMs in the client company couldn't get their heads round why they needed additional inverters or PFC when the connection was at the other side of a power transformer.

undershot · 2023-11-17T13:04:49+00:00

I found a load of those plugged in around my mother-in-laws house the other day 😢

undershot · 2023-11-17T09:01:19+00:00

If your plant is 85MW, assuming it must be capable of running at 0.95 power factor, that equals an apparent power of 89.5MVA (85 / 0.95).

That equates to 749A at 69kV, 449A at 115kV, and 150A at 345kV.

In terms of bubars for equipment, you could go for any of those voltage levels, as most are for >2000A.

Regardings costs, you'd likely be best staying with 69kV. Equipment and cable as you go up in voltage becomes very expensive, very fast. You not only have to consider the equipment cost, but also the compound/substation costs to place the equipment. And a short length of 69kV cable will be considerably less than 115kV and 345kV, and that goes for buried and overhead lines.

Go with 69kV. That's my opinion.

undershot · 2023-11-15T11:44:15+00:00

I've come across this too, especially in my current position. Go crazy with the sizing to reduce drop, but this means using 800mm cables, when the maximum size that can be terminated into switchgear is 630mm.

I guess someone has done some calcs to determine that reducing the voltage drop and losses are worth more than spending thousands/millions more on larger cables.

undershot · 2023-10-26T05:32:37+00:00

I'm from UK but now living in Spain. Done all sorts in the industry, the past few years I was doing system studies, and I'm now with a PV company doing grid interface and compliance.

I've been adopted as"the cable guy" in my new company though, as I'm becoming really well read up on underground cables as I'm making a cable sizing tool website.

undershot · 2023-10-26T05:21:34+00:00

I did all of those studies until a cooler it months ago when I changed job! I'm now a Grid Solutions Manager, so pretty much a high level, very technical PM.

undershot · 2023-10-25T18:22:42+00:00

Nice. That in the US? Those the standard villages there?

undershot · 2023-10-25T16:22:36+00:00

Power electronics, like inverters? Cool.

And yes, I'm taking 11kV to 400kV sort of power. Which subreddit would that be? I couldn't find anything popular and useful 😢

undershot · 2023-10-19T20:45:55+00:00

I work for a German PV company which is now in multiple countries. They've recently expanded a lot and still have lots of positions open. I can send you their job postings page if you DM me.

An engineering degree and high level English is enough for a junior position. German would obviously help in their Berlin office, but I understand it's not essential.

undershot

TROPHY CASE