Sooner or Later you’re going to need PES!

If you’re an IEEE Student Member, Graduate Student Member or Young Professional Member of PES you’re in the right place preparing for your future. If you’re NOT a member of PES you’re really missing out for two main reasons: Workplace Changes and Power System Changes!

Here’s some recent Statistics on Millennials in the Workplace:

  • More than 60% of Millennials ages 22-32 have changed jobs between one and four times in the past five years.
  • 44% of Millennials say they will leave their current position within two years.
  • Millennials will represent nearly 75% of the workforce by 2025.

Where is your next job going to be? Do you have a Professional network of colleagues to call on when you want to make “the change”?

We had a Young Professional speak at our PES Student Congress last year that said PES membership is just like fire insurance. You don’t know when you’re going to need it…but when you do, it is critical for success.  Based on the above Millennial Statistics, the safe bet is PES Membership!

PES now has over 258 Professional Chapters and 377 Student Chapters around the world… chances are there’s one near you! Check out our PES Chapter locator.

These Chapters are excellent local networks for your professional development. PES sponsors 21 Conferences that are also excellent events to meet new colleagues and investigate new opportunities outside your local area.

Get involved in your local Chapter meetings and our Conferences and develop YOUR Professional Network BEFORE you need it!

PES also has 17 Technical Committees and three Coordinating Committees working on new Standards for the Power System. Detailed information on Committees can be found here.

My friend and former PES President Wanda Reeder gave a talk at PowerTech in 2017 and summed it up like this:

Everything’s Changing: the way we Make it, the way we Move it, and the way we Use it; and Everything’s Changing at the same time! 

Since her talk, I think we can add one more to the list in 2019: The way we Sell it.

Hawaii has already adopted the Ratepayer Protection Act, which will require utilities to change their business models and fully decouple revenue and capital expenses.

The tradition Power System with central station generation, transmission networks, and radial distribution networks IS going to change. The only question is the pace of change. Rooftop solar and PV farms are popping up everywhere depending on local regulations. A number of pilots are also already underway with microgrids designed to enhance resiliency and community microgrids designed to share renewable resources within the neighborhood.

IEEE PES is leading the effort to understand these changes brought on by the integration of renewable energy sources with the existing grid and develop standards to make them work effectively and safely.

PES has developed tutorials and webinars to help engineers develop and deploy the grid of the future. These resources can be found here. The PES Resource Center is also available to our members to keep current with new developments and earn CEUs and PDHs for their Professional Engineer requirements.

A full list of PES Membership Benefits and details on joining our Society can be found on the PES website.

In summary, there’s never been a time like this…we need you as a PES Member to help figure it out!

Frank C. Lambert

IEEE PES President-Elect 2018-19
Georgia Tech – NEETRAC
Forest Park, GA, USA