by Mark McDonald, GE Energy, USA

Young Engineers

36

A Guide
for
Young Protective Relay Engineers
Science is systemized knowledge.
Art is knowledge made efficient by
skill. Websters Collegiate Dictionary, Fifth Edition, G. and C.

Opinion

Merriam Co., Springfield, Mass., 1942

Protective
relaying is the
best power
engineering
career, because
it ties together
the strong
technical
aspects of
power with
business
economics and
efficiencies.

Following my electrical engineering education

at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA I was
in search of a career that was not only challenging but also
stimulating and self-satisfying. I was fortunate to find just
that with GE Energy in Schenectady, NY. Here I am in pursuit
of earning the right to designate myself an official protection
engineer. After working for nearly two years, I am here to
share my experiences, challenges faced, and any advice I can
offer for fellow young protection engineers.
Upon beginning my career at GE I was unaware I would
be working in the field of relay protection. However, I
accomplished many things while in school to prepare myself
for this transition. On top of taking power courses I had two
summer internships. The first was with Commonwealth
Edison in Chicago, IL where I worked in the Research and
Development department. I also had an internship in the
NEETRAC high voltage lab in Atlanta, GA. In my nearly two
years at GE I have completed seventeen generator protection
coordination studies for large gas, steam, combined cycle and
nuclear power plants in fourteen different countries. I have
also participated in two WECC generator testing jobs where I
obtained invaluable field experience.
Initial Discoveries
When I first began my career I found a solid foundation
in electric power is an absolute must to be successful in
protective relaying. Relaying demands a deep understanding
of many technical aspects of power including: unbalanced
power flows, fault currents, symmetrical components, bus
configurations, trip circuits, machine design parameters and
much more. A great knowledge base and deep understanding
of these topics are not only invaluable but also necessary for
a young protection engineer. This is a great field in which to
begin a career because it forces you to fully understand these
technical aspects of the power industry.
On a higher level, protective relaying has many unique
aspects even when compared to similar fields in the power
industry. First is that particular disparities found in the
transition from schooling to the real world are greatly

PAC.SPRING.2009

amplified. Most young engineers leave school with the belief

they will be cranking out cookie cutter design work that is
defined within clear boundaries. A practicing protection
engineer will encounter projects where the level of data
supplied is highly variable. Some customers provide very little
information and leave the engineer to design the system from
scratch while others may provide specific setting limitations
with strict boundaries. In school a student is always supplied
the right amount of required data to find the solution.
Additionally, the accuracy of the customer-supplied data
can be inconsistent and is necessary to scrutinize in practice.
A protective relay engineer must be able to cope with these
variables not found in school.
A relay engineers ultimate outcome for a particular project
comes down to creating settings that can generate a desired
trip versus an undesired trip or failure to trip when desired.
This is the facet where protective relaying begins to become
more of an art than a science. Changing a setting by a tenth of
an ohm can alter the outcome of an event drastically. This was

1 Mark by a rack of relays

used for testing purposes

37
In addition, it is vital for a young engineer to develop their
network. The perfect resource to do that is to get involved
in the IEEE in both technical committees as well as local
activities. For young engineers a great resource is to join your
local IEEE Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) affinity
group. Since joining GE, a few coworkers and I formed a
Schenectady section GOLD group. This is an ideal resource to
network with peers in your industry.
Future of the Industry
According to the IEEE Power Systems Relay Committee,
the average age of a relay engineer is fifty-two and is
increasing. This is a sign of a lack of hiring younger engineers
and recent graduates. The future of the power engineering
industry relies on the interests and minds of young engineers,
some of who are still in school today. The field of protective
relaying obtains little visibility in universities because it is a
field with practices that have largely remained the same for
decades. However, one aspect that has morphed through
time is relays themselves. The advent of the microprocessor
based digital relay in the mid-1980s is a point that should be
emphasized to spark interest in students today.
Overall I cannot imagine a better field to begin a power
engineering career than protective relaying. It ties together the
strong technical aspects of power with business economics
and efficiencies. The challenges it provides are endless and the
learning process is ongoing. The need for new relay engineers
is an emerging problem and must be met with modern
incentives to correctly steer engineering students. The bible
for protective relaying is C. W. Masons The Art and Science
of Protective Relaying and he quotes Websters Collegiate
Dictionary by stating Science is systemized knowledge.
Art is knowledge made efficient by skill. This is the perfect
tagline to encompass the field of protective relaying.
For questions or more information please feel free to contact me via email at :
[email protected].

2 Example of a stator differ-

ential dual slope characteristic

ID

differential

Operate

Block
Slope 2

Slope 1
Break 2

Pickup
Break 1

frustrating for me at first because engineering problems in

school had one correct answer. Protective relaying solutions
can be nearly infinite for particular problems. Most settings are
created using best-practice methods and utilizing experience
from previous projects.
One thing not considered in school is the fact that
economics plays a huge role in designing protective relaying
systems. The more relays, CTs, PTs and monitoring utilized
in applications inevitably leads to a more expensive design.
Therefore you are forced to keep designs economically feasible
and be maximally efficient with the resources at hand. You
must be able to justify every expense in the customers eyes.
Challenges Faced
An unexpected aspect I soon discovered stems from the
nature of the protective relaying industry. Protective relaying
can be compared to the electric power version of insurance.
Insurance has distinct characteristics and a stigma that
follows it. Basically its a necessary evil and expense in the
consumers eye. Relaying is not revenue earning, rather an
expense that power equipment owners face. When problems
occur such as faults or abnormal operations, they can result
in catastrophic equipment damage, power outages and even
bodily harm. These results demand quick and accurate action.
In the worst-case scenario, when the protective relaying
fails, the relay engineer must be able to explain the reasoning
behind his or her work. The mere thought of this occurrence
forces protection engineers to have a complete understanding
of their relay settings. Enough so, for example, you can
explain why your percent differential setting mistripped on
an external fault due to a saturated CT because your slope 2
setting was set at 25%. Its like being backed into a corner and
your only resource to successfully escape is to reason your
way out by explaining your logic (Figure 2).
Advice
There are four keys to early success. First and foremost
you need access and extensive use of power system reference
and training material. This not only includes textbooks, relay
manuals, IEEE standards and technical papers, it is necessary
to stay current in the field by subscribing to magazines and
relay manufacturer business updates.
Training courses tailored specifically for protective relaying
are truly invaluable. Personally, I attended the Fundamentals
of Modern Protective Relaying course taught by GE Multilin
in Markham, ON. I was also fortunate enough to attend the
Power and Energy Systems Engineering Course (PSEC) in
Schenectady, NY on protective relaying taught by my mentor
at GE, Mike Reichard. These courses are great for solidifying
concepts and current practices. By far and away the most
important resource is having a tried and true mentor who
carries decades of experience under his or her belt. This is
an absolutely priceless resource for many reasons. They are a
walking encyclopedia and can supply immediate answers to
questions. Their experience brings wisdom and practicality.
A mentor will also have a constant supply of examples and
know which projects are most helpful for the advancement of
a young protection engineer.

restraining

IR

Source: G60 UR Series Instruction Manual, Revision 5.6, GEK-113486

PAC.SPRING.2009

Mark McDonald graduated

from the Georgia
Institute of Technology in 2007 majoring in Electrical
Engineering. During
his studies, he
performed research
on transmission line
dynamic rating systems. This research
sparked his interest
in electric power
and the following
summer landed
an internship with
Commonwealth
Edison in Chicago,
IL. He also had a
summer internship in NEETRACs
high voltage test
lab in Atlanta, GA.
Mark is now a relay
protection engineer
at GE Energy in
Schenectady, NY
doing coordination
studies on large gas,
steam, combined
cycle and nuclear
power plants. Mark
is involved in the
local chapter of IEEE
and has recently
formed an IEEE
GOLD affinity group.
When not working, Mark enjoys
traveling, skiing,
rock climbing and
watching Georgia
Tech sports.