A Shrinking Workforce Threatens the Future of the Grid

As renewable energy scales up and data centers demand more electricity than ever, the electrical systems that power the modern world face mounting stress. At the heart of this infrastructure are power engineers: technical professionals who design, build, and maintain the power grid. But just as demand for electricity skyrockets, a shortage in talent now threatens to derail the energy sector.

According to a recent joint study by consulting firm Kearney and IEEE, the global power sector will need between 450,000 and 1.5 million more engineers by 2030 to build, implement, and operate energy infrastructure. Already, 40 percent of power executives report difficulty hiring skilled workers, citing talent competition and insufficient skills as key barriers.

That gap is a major concern for energy leaders. Some say that a talent shortage could threaten to delay critical infrastructure upgrades just when the grid needs to evolve faster than ever. More frequent service disruptions could follow as extreme weather events strain aging grid equipment, and energy demands continue to grow. Hiring bottlenecks could also stall timelines for clean-energy integration, transmission expansions, and nuclear-plant maintenance, jeopardizing both grid reliability and the pace of decarbonization.

In response, utilities and engineering firms are exploring new strategies to bolster the pipeline, including partnering with universities, investing in apprenticeship programs, and turning to emerging technologies to offset gaps in the workforce.

“Without enough engineers, these critical projects will be delayed, compounding reliability risks and slowing the energy transition at the exact moment when momentum is needed most,” Andre Begosso, a partner at Kearney involved in the study, told IEEE Spectrum.

A “Perfect Storm” for a Talent Shortage

The root causes of the engineering shortage are mounting.

Baby boomers in the workforce are retiring, and not enough young people are stepping in to fill their shoes, leaving utilities and engineering firms with more open roles than people to fill them. “Right now, utility companies are facing a perfect storm of a labor crisis, with an aging workforce and a lack of younger employees to replenish them,” says Kevin Miller, chief technology officer for North America at IFS, a software company with energy-sector clients.

Tough working conditions are also pushing engineers out of the field. “Nearly half of all power engineers changed jobs, employers, or left the industry in just the past three years, with burnout and lack of creative problem-solving opportunities among the top reasons,” Begosso says. In nuclear power, where reliability is crucial, Begosso says the churn is even higher: 58 percent of engineers have moved roles.

On the education front, the pipeline is drying up. Begosso says that university enrollment in power engineering programs has stagnated as engineering students flock to high-tech fields like data science, software engineering, and AI, which are seen as more exciting and lucrative.

Even when companies find new hires, they’re slow to onboard. “Hiring and onboarding these skilled employees takes longer than in other sectors,” says Miller. Manual practices and long training cycles stretch timelines, he says, and when errors occur, supervisors must divert attention away from core operations.

Without enough power engineers, substations may not receive the maintenance and upgrades they need.Sirathee Boonpanyarak/Alamy

How Engineering Firms Are Managing the Gap

At Black & Veatch, one of the largest engineering firms in the United States, early-career recruitment is crucial for filling staffing needs. The company turns 85 to 90 percent of its interns into entry-level hires, and last summer, that rate hit 93 percent, according to Ryan Elbert, executive vice president and global director of engineering and development services at Black & Veatch. He says the firm invests heavily in growing its own talent pool, hiring interns and recent graduates to fill about 10 to 15 percent of their engineering teams.

But even with this strategy Black & Veatch isn’t immune. “I think the talent shortage really plays out a lot more at the experienced level,” Elbert says. “Hiring top-tier seasoned engineers is really no small feat.”

Smaller firms are especially feeling the heat. With limited resources, they often find themselves in direct competition with industry giants that can offer higher pay and better perks.

Heather Eason, CEO of Select Power Systems, a boutique engineering firm, recounts how a junior engineer—hired straight out of college and trained in substation design—was poached by a competitor within six months for just US $5 more an hour. Particularly for younger workers, “money speaks,” Eason says.

Many large firms can plan for staffing needs long before a project begins, but smaller firms don’t always have that luxury. Eason says that Select Power typically spends 6 to 9 months filling roles. So when a key engineer left Select for a larger firm, the company had to walk away from a major transmission line project. “I’m not going to be able to put a T-line [transmission line] team together in eight weeks,” she says.

Obtaining the credentials needed to become a licensed professional engineer could exacerbate the talent gap. Eason says that becoming a licensed professional engineer requires a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, completion of the Engineer-in-Training (EIT) and Professional Engineering (PE) exams, and four years of work experience in between those tests. While engineers don’t need to hold these certifications to be hired, having them on their résumés provides engineers with the credentials employers look for when hiring for better-paying jobs with more responsibility.

That lengthy process could deter engineers from taking the exams, potentially stifling their career development, especially for women who may have additional caretaking responsibilities. “I never got my PE registration, and it has definitely limited me,” Eason says. “I didn’t have the ability to just stop being a mom to four kids so I could study for six months for an 8-hour exam.”

Participants receive training during the 2025 International Hybrid Power Plants & Systems Workshop in Mariehamn, Åland.Energynautics

Tech, Training, and Transfer of Knowledge

Rather than chasing an ever-shrinking pool of engineers, some utilities are using technology to get more out of the staff they already have. For instance, IFS deploys augmented reality tools designed to help senior technicians assist their less experienced colleagues in troubleshooting problems in real time.

Companies in need of talent are also investing in upskilling initiatives. At Power Academy, a training program for utility workers run by global engineering firm TRC Companies, director of technical services Anna Campbell says demand from utilities and data centers is growing fast. Those clients require expertise in protection, controls, and substation engineering—skills learned as part of the Power Academy training program. “There simply isn’t enough talent to meet the need,” Campbell told Spectrum.

In the United Kingdom, Excitation & Engineering Services (EES)—whose clients include ConocoPhillips, General Electric, and Siemens—has structured its graduate recruitment program to ensure young engineers work alongside seasoned employees from day one. “It shortens the learning curve but, most importantly, it passes on that knowledge from senior engineers while it’s still available,” EES director Ryan Kavanagh says.

Meanwhile, programs such as the education division of Bentley Systems, in Exton, Pa., offer university students free access to engineering software, online courses, and global competitions that prepare them for engineering jobs in the energy sector. “The more we can embed innovation deeper into education, the faster we can deliver on sustainable, resilient infrastructure projects,” says Chris Bradshaw, chief sustainability and education officer at Bentley, which is an infrastructure engineering software firm.

Looking ahead, university initiatives that encourage engineering students to pursue jobs in the energy sector, combined with the use of technologies like generative AI and cultural shifts, mark steps toward easing the talent crunch. But the clock is ticking for utilities and engineering firms to address the talent gap before it’s too late.

“If the gap persists, the industry simply won’t be able to deliver on its potential,” says Begosso. “The strength of the energy workforce will go a long way in determining how competitive and reliable the power sector, and the economy it underpins, can be in the next decade.”