Can you briefly introduce yourself?
My name is Emily Barrett, and I got my MS in Power Engineering from PSU 2016. After getting my degree, I worked at Pacific Northwest National Lab for 7 years. I’m now a Principal Market Design Specialist at PJM Interconnection in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. PJM operates the largest grid in the country; our service area includes 13 states and DC, and we are responsible for keeping the lights on for about 67 million people. My current focus is on leading an initiative to make reforms to our reserve markets.
In layman’s terms, what does your field of power engineers do?
PJM is responsible for ensuring that the generators producing power in our jurisdiction are producing enough energy to meet the demand 24/7. This means that generators are getting dispatch orders every 5 minutes or less, all day, every day, and those instructions come from our control room. Those dispatch instructions come out of the wholesale energy markets that we design and operate, which set the price of energy and of the essential reliability services that we need to continue to operate the system reliably. It’s a mix of very technical optimization work with also understanding the implications of those outcomes—taking into account cost equity, appropriateness of prices, and other economic and policy factors.
What led you to study Power Engineering?
I got into environmental study through conservation work with AmeriCorps. After that, I did an Energy Fellowship with the Natural Resources Defense Council at Bonneville Environmental Foundation in Portland. While I was there, I enrolled at PSU as a postbac student, with the intention of starting the Masters in Power Engineering.
I chose to study Power Engineering because it is an interesting intersection: reliable power is a critical function of daily life, and it is also a major driver of environmental impact. The problems that we work on in this field are hard, interesting, and important.
Do you have any advice or words of wisdom for current Maseeh College students?
The people who thrive in the area I work in are people who can think interdisciplinarily. We are always balancing different considerations: thinking about economics and equity, using very technical engineering skills, interpreting policy, et cetera. Learning from people with different perspectives helps develop these skills, and the program at PSU helps do that by bringing in instructors who have experience in many different sides of the industry.
How did Maseeh College help you prepare for your career?
I got a lot out of a funded research project that the Power Engineering Group was doing in partnership with Portland General Electric, involving load shaping using heat pump technology. It gave me an opportunity to be a full time student, and also to work with the local utility. If a utility is funding a project, you know it has a real impact on industry.
I also felt prepared in many technical aspects of power engineering, like essential reliability services, power flow skills, modeling and simulating outcomes, and generator services.
What are you most hopeful about in terms of engineering and/or future innovations in your field?
We are facing two major challenges in the power industry: the energy transition, including the introduction of more wind and solar power into the grid, as well as managing batteries to store this power, and massive load increases due to data centers, which has sparked major concerns over resource adequacy in this country. These two factors together have created an especially challenging situation.
What’s exciting—and frankly terrifying—is how important these issues are. PJM is a nexus point for these types of conversations, and we are always thinking and talking about new ideas. If you follow industry news, you will continue to see new solutions proposed in the next weeks and months. I believe we can rise to meet this moment, but it’s going to take collaboration across industries and in partnership with policy makers.