What Do Wind Energy Engineers Do (including Their Typical Day At Work)

Job Description

Wind Energy Engineers design underground or overhead wind farm collector systems and prepare and develop site specifications. They also create or maintain wind farm layouts, schematics, or other visual documentation for wind farms.

Other tasks include:

• Provide engineering technical support to designers of prototype wind turbines.
• Recommend process or infrastructure changes to improve wind turbine performance, reduce operational costs, or comply with regulations.
• Investigate experimental wind turbines or wind turbine technologies for properties such as aerodynamics, production, noise, and load.
• Create models to optimize the layout of wind farm access roads, crane pads, crane paths, collection systems, substations, switchyards, or transmission lines.
• Develop active control algorithms, electronics, software, electromechanical, or electrohydraulic systems for wind turbines.
• Develop specifications for wind technology components, such as gearboxes, blades, generators, frequency converters, or pad transformers.

We asked Wind Energy Engineers how satisfied they are with their job. Here is what they said.

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70% of them said they were satisfied with their job and 60% said they find that their job makes the world a better place or helps to make someone else’s life better.

Typical Day At Work

On a daily basis, Wind Energy Engineers develop active control algorithms, electronics, software, electromechanical, or electrohydraulic systems for wind turbines. They create models to optimize the layout of wind farm access roads, crane pads, crane paths, collection systems, substations, switchyards, or transmission lines.

• Recommend process or infrastructure changes to improve wind turbine performance, reduce operational costs, or comply with regulations.
• Investigate experimental wind turbines or wind turbine technologies for properties such as aerodynamics, production, noise, and load.
• Create or maintain wind farm layouts, schematics, or other visual documentation for wind farms.
• Provide engineering technical support to designers of prototype wind turbines.
• Design underground or overhead wind farm collector systems.

We asked some Wind Energy Engineers a few questions to find out what else does their work day look like. Here is what we found.

	Do you have telephone conversations everyday in this job?	49% said yes
	How important is it to work in a team in this job?	42% said very important
	Do you have group discussions everyday in this job?	44% said yes
	Do you talk or work with customers everyday in this job?	14% said yes
	Do you have to deal with angry customers everyday in this job?	0% said yes
	Do you have to make decisions everyday in this job?	25% said yes

Other responsibilities

Besides their typical day, Wind Energy Engineers also develop specifications for wind technology components, such as gearboxes, blades, generators, frequency converters, or pad transformers. They may also create or maintain wind farm layouts, schematics, or other visual documentation for wind farms.

On a weekly to monthly basis, Wind Energy Engineers Direct balance of plant (BOP) construction, generator installation, testing, commissioning, or supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) to ensure compliance with specifications. They might also Recommend process or infrastructure changes to improve wind turbine performance, reduce operational costs, or comply with regulations.

In addition, they Create models to optimize the layout of wind farm access roads, crane pads, crane paths, collection systems, substations, switchyards, or transmission lines.

Although specific duties may vary, many of them Oversee the work activities of wind farm consultants or subcontractors.

To some Wind Energy Engineers, it is also their responsibility to Develop active control algorithms, electronics, software, electromechanical, or electrohydraulic systems for wind turbines.

Working life

More than 40 hours per week

Regular schedule like a 9 to 5

In a typical work week as a Wind Energy Engineer, you can expect to work more than 40 hours per week.

Is this right for me

People who are suitable for this job tends to like work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They like working with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery..

They also like working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. They like searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

You can read more about these career personality types here.

Explore other careers

http://www.bls.gov/green/wind_energy/