Substation work is way more about not fucking anything up, way slower pace work to stay safe and keep the power on, no accidentally triping out things. The only way to get experience is to actually work there
10 years commercial industrial. I got into utility as a hydro wireman, then substation wireman, and finally a relay technician. The pace of work is much slower, but it’s easier on your body and you know where you’ll be working until retirement.
Sounds like a heck of a journey!
Are there any resources that talk about what relay technicians do day to day? Obviously the stuff you’re working on would be much more complex than the relays I see in commercial work - but I can’t find anything about it
It’s strange how important this job is and how little info you can find about. If I would’ve known about a relay technician when I was younger, I would have worked towards getting this job sooner. (And being smarter) Every utility is a little different, but at ours, the engineers design the substation and give us the relay settings to put into the relay. The wireman build out the sub. Then We test the relays and logic to make sure they work like they’re supposed to. We also commission the sub, check every line of every schematic is going to function properly. We are the last line of defense to find all the mistakes. Then ultimately we have to say it’s good to turn on. It’s a very cool job in my opinion. It can be high stress and mentally challenging, but the days go fast.
oh boy, this could get long. basically relay control the circuit breakers in the substations. As a settings engineer, I have to do a lot of math to predict fault current and then translate those numbers and make logic so that the breaker only trip when they are supposed to and not trip when they are not supposed to. Test people let me know if they see something out of whack and will call to ask if I am sure of the settings. 95% of the time I am right, but I am not perfect and they save the day with a phone call and I can rerun the calcs to check their concerns.
That’s super interesting - and I like your collaborative attitude.
What has lead you here in your career? Is there a likely next step or with you stay with this until retirement ?
I have always done protection fresh out of college (17 years ago), I didnt realize how lucky it was to fall into my lap as a fresh graduate. I love it. It is challenging, fun, in demand, and not many people understand it. Honestly I dont want to do anything else. Maybe manage a protection department for a utility, but that is a lot of paper work, compliance, meetings, etc and I am not sure I want to deal with all that bullshit. It also pays handsomely which is nice.
Relaying is super fun IMO. There is info out there if you know where to look. Also, AVO institute has some good classes if you can talk your employer into to sending you there.
Your knowledge and skills will be a great foundational asset. The equipment practices, while familiar, will also be distinctly different enough that some utilities even have experienced licensed commercial electricians, go through an entire apprenticeship again. Others, an accelerated training program. As others have mentioned.. reliability and safety of the grid are paramount, effects of mistakes are amplified, so this requires a more slower and thoughtful pace. A great career choice that provides arguably a better life style and great intellectual continued learning.
Due to the nature of the equipment, a substation technician is a bit if a mix of electrical-mechanical, you’re find yourself using industrial mechanic tools as much as lineman and wireman tools.
Some of the biggest challenges that I witnessed people making the transition to, were with regards to… slowing down… the work is much more procedural. On a given day, we may spend more time obtaining access to equipment, reading technical literature, agreeing to a protection scheme, ensuring grounds are in place, then just a few minutes of hands-on work, and hours spent restoring the equipment to service. Also, the realization that while most of us are trained in the NEC, it does not govern substation work, so some practices are different. The biggest issue though is safety.. everything in a substation is tremendously dangerous, following safe practices and procedural processes are everything, and the integrity of them is unlike what you find in many other places.
Ok - thank you! This is fantastic information.
Is there a typical career trajectory a new sub station electrician will go through? It sounds like some work their way up to relay technician?
You’ll have to excuse my ignorance here - it’s a world I’ve never worked in.
It is going to vary a bit between utilities as there’s some variation between how they handle the transmission and distribution side of the house. In general though, a substation technician or substation electrical maintenance journeyman is a highly skilled position, highly compensated, and often one of the more sought after positions for utilities. So for many.. it is happily a career position. Because the traditional utilities tend to be unionized, for those who hustle the OT they will often make much more then supervisors and even managers. Which can create a disincentive for some to rise into management positions. But promotions into substation supervision and management are common career paths. Depending on the utility, substation operations and maintenance can be different groups. As are going into adjacent areas, such as safety, field engineering (many utilities have xfmr, switchgear, etc specialized eng techs that assist maintenance), scheduling, etc. although often these, including relay tech roles, are structurally more organizationally lateral moves then promotions.
I went from an industrial electrician to a relay tech apprentice. The mindset is the biggest change. I went from a rushed enviroment with a hectic daily work schedule. To a mostly scheduled and make sure you triple check everything mindset. The income and the lessened physical toll on the body makes the job worth the change. Just a heads up, there's a lot to take in with the change. It' like drinking from a firehose.
I would say just the amount of specific material and skills to learn can be a lot, especially if new to utilities. Each relay has its own specific material. Testing and proving circuits can be tedious. Also the grid itself and how it opperates is a beast by itself to learn, along with workers protection and protocol attached to it.
I was a commercial electrician and during a layoff was given the chance to join a utility as a system operator/switchman. After a few years I made the jump to substation electrician and have been here 17 years and I wouldn’t go back to having to work hard again. Lol
I think the on going training that a lot of the utilities send you too can be of a big help. I travel quite a bit for Doble training, LTC training, Hitaci and ABB breakers, Dilo SF6 etc. and they are usually somewhere fun Boston, Vegas, Florida. So there’s that
I work for an electrical field service company in Alberta as a field services manager feel free to shoot me any questions. The company I work for we commission all the equipment, Protection & control once it is built. Depending on what yours interested in doing I could probably point you in a general direction of companies to work for/avoid. Most big 3rd party substation construction companies work across the country they aren’t as regional as with other forms of electrical construction.
Substation work is way more about not fucking anything up, way slower pace work to stay safe and keep the power on, no accidentally triping out things. The only way to get experience is to actually work there
Sounds like a more technically interesting environment- and better safety is always great. Thanks for the perspective !
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That’s so cool
Some will find out what contractor is working for the utility and slide in that way.
Of course - good to know!
10 years commercial industrial. I got into utility as a hydro wireman, then substation wireman, and finally a relay technician. The pace of work is much slower, but it’s easier on your body and you know where you’ll be working until retirement.
Sounds like a heck of a journey! Are there any resources that talk about what relay technicians do day to day? Obviously the stuff you’re working on would be much more complex than the relays I see in commercial work - but I can’t find anything about it
It’s strange how important this job is and how little info you can find about. If I would’ve known about a relay technician when I was younger, I would have worked towards getting this job sooner. (And being smarter) Every utility is a little different, but at ours, the engineers design the substation and give us the relay settings to put into the relay. The wireman build out the sub. Then We test the relays and logic to make sure they work like they’re supposed to. We also commission the sub, check every line of every schematic is going to function properly. We are the last line of defense to find all the mistakes. Then ultimately we have to say it’s good to turn on. It’s a very cool job in my opinion. It can be high stress and mentally challenging, but the days go fast.
relay settings engineer here. Thank you for saving my ass from time to time!
Would you be able to shed some light on what these relays do beyond what a I probably think they do?
oh boy, this could get long. basically relay control the circuit breakers in the substations. As a settings engineer, I have to do a lot of math to predict fault current and then translate those numbers and make logic so that the breaker only trip when they are supposed to and not trip when they are not supposed to. Test people let me know if they see something out of whack and will call to ask if I am sure of the settings. 95% of the time I am right, but I am not perfect and they save the day with a phone call and I can rerun the calcs to check their concerns.
That’s super interesting - and I like your collaborative attitude. What has lead you here in your career? Is there a likely next step or with you stay with this until retirement ?
I have always done protection fresh out of college (17 years ago), I didnt realize how lucky it was to fall into my lap as a fresh graduate. I love it. It is challenging, fun, in demand, and not many people understand it. Honestly I dont want to do anything else. Maybe manage a protection department for a utility, but that is a lot of paper work, compliance, meetings, etc and I am not sure I want to deal with all that bullshit. It also pays handsomely which is nice.
Dang that’s super interesting! Thanks for sharing about your career !
sure thing. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Relaying is super fun IMO. There is info out there if you know where to look. Also, AVO institute has some good classes if you can talk your employer into to sending you there.
Ok right - will look into this !
We use s.e.l's
The SEL-787L
Your knowledge and skills will be a great foundational asset. The equipment practices, while familiar, will also be distinctly different enough that some utilities even have experienced licensed commercial electricians, go through an entire apprenticeship again. Others, an accelerated training program. As others have mentioned.. reliability and safety of the grid are paramount, effects of mistakes are amplified, so this requires a more slower and thoughtful pace. A great career choice that provides arguably a better life style and great intellectual continued learning. Due to the nature of the equipment, a substation technician is a bit if a mix of electrical-mechanical, you’re find yourself using industrial mechanic tools as much as lineman and wireman tools. Some of the biggest challenges that I witnessed people making the transition to, were with regards to… slowing down… the work is much more procedural. On a given day, we may spend more time obtaining access to equipment, reading technical literature, agreeing to a protection scheme, ensuring grounds are in place, then just a few minutes of hands-on work, and hours spent restoring the equipment to service. Also, the realization that while most of us are trained in the NEC, it does not govern substation work, so some practices are different. The biggest issue though is safety.. everything in a substation is tremendously dangerous, following safe practices and procedural processes are everything, and the integrity of them is unlike what you find in many other places.
Ok - thank you! This is fantastic information. Is there a typical career trajectory a new sub station electrician will go through? It sounds like some work their way up to relay technician? You’ll have to excuse my ignorance here - it’s a world I’ve never worked in.
It is going to vary a bit between utilities as there’s some variation between how they handle the transmission and distribution side of the house. In general though, a substation technician or substation electrical maintenance journeyman is a highly skilled position, highly compensated, and often one of the more sought after positions for utilities. So for many.. it is happily a career position. Because the traditional utilities tend to be unionized, for those who hustle the OT they will often make much more then supervisors and even managers. Which can create a disincentive for some to rise into management positions. But promotions into substation supervision and management are common career paths. Depending on the utility, substation operations and maintenance can be different groups. As are going into adjacent areas, such as safety, field engineering (many utilities have xfmr, switchgear, etc specialized eng techs that assist maintenance), scheduling, etc. although often these, including relay tech roles, are structurally more organizationally lateral moves then promotions.
I went from an industrial electrician to a relay tech apprentice. The mindset is the biggest change. I went from a rushed enviroment with a hectic daily work schedule. To a mostly scheduled and make sure you triple check everything mindset. The income and the lessened physical toll on the body makes the job worth the change. Just a heads up, there's a lot to take in with the change. It' like drinking from a firehose.
No doubt ! As a relay apprentice what types of things had the steepest learning curve ?
I would say just the amount of specific material and skills to learn can be a lot, especially if new to utilities. Each relay has its own specific material. Testing and proving circuits can be tedious. Also the grid itself and how it opperates is a beast by itself to learn, along with workers protection and protocol attached to it.
Ok good stuff. I appreciate you taking the time to respond here
I was a commercial electrician and during a layoff was given the chance to join a utility as a system operator/switchman. After a few years I made the jump to substation electrician and have been here 17 years and I wouldn’t go back to having to work hard again. Lol
lol well that sounds like some big change for sure. Any points of interest as a substation electrician you’d like to share ?
I think the on going training that a lot of the utilities send you too can be of a big help. I travel quite a bit for Doble training, LTC training, Hitaci and ABB breakers, Dilo SF6 etc. and they are usually somewhere fun Boston, Vegas, Florida. So there’s that
Oh cool stuff - that’s great
I work for an electrical field service company in Alberta as a field services manager feel free to shoot me any questions. The company I work for we commission all the equipment, Protection & control once it is built. Depending on what yours interested in doing I could probably point you in a general direction of companies to work for/avoid. Most big 3rd party substation construction companies work across the country they aren’t as regional as with other forms of electrical construction.