ROLE OF ENGINEERS IN POWER SECTORS

 

 

 ROLE OF ENGINEERS IN POWER SECTORS

By:

Prof. (Dr.) A. K. DAS Head & Professor, 

Department of Renewable Energy, MAKAUT,WB.

 

Definition of Engineer A qualified person specially trained to design and build machines, structures, industrial plants etc. is an Engineer. 

Engineers in Power Sector - THEN and NOW 

THEN Years ago, Engineers liked to lead a team of Supervisors & Workmen and bridged the gap between Managers and Supervisors. They possessed the knowledge on technical detail, supervisory, commercial, legal compliances etc. and be truly the engineers in nature overall. 

NOW Today Engineers in power plant at entry level work as technical assistants due to lack in understanding of complexities and advancement of technologies in modern equipment, machineries, instruments, process and systems. Present Engineers need to have high level of competency, knowledge of understanding to perform in their specific area of work. 

i. Engineers in design and R&D should have very clear knowledge 

• About subject. 

• Basic theoretical aspects of design and calculation. 

• Standards & Codes, Rules & Regulations 

• Operation philosophy 

• Equipment selection 

 ii. Engineer of different branches in power sector should have the competencies as 

● Mechanical Engineers do maintenance, operation 

 ●Electrical Engineers do electrical operation & maintenance 

●Chemical Engineers can do analysis, operation 

 ●C&I Engineers do maintenance of process instrumentation, logic formation etc. 

● All types of Engineer including discipline of Civil, Electronics, Computer etc. also have great importance in power sectors.

In addition to prevent and curve any fire and explosion in power plants, Fire and Safety Engineers have big role to avoid any kind of losses to the plant. Practically after certain years of experience, all engineers come to a same platform, called Power Engineers. Present trend shows that even electrical engineers are competent in mechanical activities and chemical engineers are also doing well in maintenance. Operation engineers need to know the maintenance and the maintenance engineers should know the operation of a process plant. If the Engineers fail to achieve the multi-faced quality, will lose the jobs in present competitive work field. 

Specially, for thermal power plants the Engineers should have sound knowledge in the following systems: 

Different systems and equipment of a power plant 

❖ Boiler and its auxiliaries Pressure Parts, ID, FD, PA, SA fans - centrifugal fans; Boiler Feed Pump- multi stage centrifugal pump; Economizer; APH; ESP and duct system. 

❖ Turbine and its auxiliaries Oil system, surface condenser, Condensate system, evacuation system 

 ❖ Generator Excitation system, bus-bar, neutral grounding, LAPT, breaker, Cooling system 

❖ Coal handling plant Crusher, belt conveyor, Magnetic separator, gravity take off pulley, screening, idler 

❖ Ash handling plant Different type: Pneumatic conveying, hydro-vector & hydro-jet, Ash conveying pipe, silo. Unburnt in ash and its implication 

❖ Water treatment plant Flash mixer, Clarifier, Multi-grade filter, RO, DM chain 

❖ Switchyard, Power control Centre (PCC), Motor Control Centre (MCC) Unit transformer, isolator, CT, PT, Breaker, Bus bar, Cables 

❖ Cooling water system Main CW pumps, Aux. CW pump, Cooling tower, Cooling tower fans 

❖ Pressurized air system Compressors, air distribution Role of engineers in power plant In a power sector normally two groups cover all activities, they are operation engineers and maintenance engineers.

Other than that one special group of engineers who look after condition monitoring, performance and water quality. Few years back mechanical and electrical engineers used to dominate the total activities in power sectors. Due to wide fluctuation in input quality of water and fuel, stringent monitoring and analysis has become eminent. So, presently Chemical engineers are very much required to cope up all adverse conditions in power sector. Additionally, at the advent of modern control systems like DCS & PLC, the requirement of Electronic &Instrumentations engineers are in high demand. 

Constraints faced by an Engineer at entry level

 • Less exposure to industries during college days 

• lack of physical conception of the equipment & system 

• Incompetent supervising engineer • Inadequate training 

• Professional jealousy • Lack of Safety awareness 

• Inadequate knowledge about pollution norms and standards Attitude and behaviors of engineers 

• Sincerity 

• Hardworking 

• Attitude to learn 

• Loyalty 

Managerial ability 

Engineers, being the future managers of any company, should develop himself leadership and managerial quality. 

Scope of employment 

As per recent report 5 lacs of power plant professional will be required in next 10 years. Normally 1-2.5 persons are required per MW. Out of total manpower, 30-40 % engineers are employed in power sector.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Magazine publication of Department of Renewable Energy Engineering

Image
 The Department of Renewable Energy Engineering-MAKAUT,WB  has published its maiden Magazine named "Renewable Energy Spectrum", Volume 1, Issue 1. Honorable Vice-chancellor Prof. Saikat Maitra officially published it on 16.11.2022. The magazine is completely conceptualized, designed and edited by the students of M.Tech in Renewable Energy (Batch 2021-23). Special mentions to Ms. Sankhageeti Saha and Mr. Ritam Paral for their efforts.
Read more

Department of Renewable Energy Engineering has organized webinar on ‘Introduction to Green Building and Initiatives’

Image
  The Department of Renewable Energy Engineering organized their 2 nd event of Webinar Series (Year 2022) on 8 th April, 2022 at 12.00 Noon on Zoom Platform. The Topic of the webinar was ‘Introduction to Green Building and Initiatives’. The Guest speaker for this webinar was Mr. Amith M.C., Associate Councillor and IGBC Accredited Professional, Indian Green Building Council, CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Buisness Center. Prof. Saikat Maitra, Honourable Vice Chancellor, MAKAUT, WB inaugurated the Webinar with an introductory speech. In his speech, Prof. Maitra appreciated the effort of the Webinar Committee for planning and organizing the webinar series by this department. He pointed out the importance of organizing such lecture series on regular basis for exchanging industrial and academic knowledge among the interested participants across the broad domain of renewable energy. He also highlighted various aspects and importance of green buildings to save our planet from raging ene
Read more

The M.Tech program in Renewable Energy under the Department of Renewable Energy Engineering got AICTE approval this year in 2022.

  The M.Tech program in Renewable Energy under the Department of Renewable Energy Engineering got AICTE approval this year in 2022. Though it is not mandatory for State Universities like MAKAUT, WB to take prior approval for starting the course but to ensure excellency in academics and research, University had opted for the approval. We are thankful to our Honorable Vice-Chancellor Prof. Saikat Maitra, Registrar Dr. Partha Pratim Lahiri, Information Scientist Dr. Md. Aftabuddin and all other Officers,   Faculties & Staffs who were involved in this approval process.
Read more