As a Vice President at EPS Engineering & Design, Ryan Cross supports clients in electric substations, electric transmission and distribution lines and critical infrastructure security throughout the United States. Cross started his career as a substation engineer and then moved to project manager. Over his 21 years of experience, he has worked in operations, customer management and account management.

Could you tell me about some current trends that are prevalent in the industry?

One of the largest trends that we have seen over the past several years is the steady addition of renewable energy. Getting renewable energy connected to the grid without the need for additional, high-voltage transmission lines is important, whether it be for solar fields or wind farms. However, I don’t believe this trend will last much longer as additional high voltage transmission lines will be needed. The more renewable energy we can incorporate into the system and how we manage it, the more important and advantageous it will be going forward, and these additional high voltage transmission lines will be required to meet renewable energy goals. We’re continually working to incorporate more renewable energy into the grid as utilities gradually phase out coal facilities.

Could you tell me some challenges that you face in your day-to-day activities?

One of the challenges is to link renewable energy sources to the grid. Integrating these renewable sources into the grid also depends in part on harmonics and other factors related to the power quality of the grid. Additionally, we encounter difficulties from a permitting aspect. It’s kind of the same old story: people want renewable energy and green power, but they don’t want these facilities in their backyards, cities, or other nearby locations, which creates a challenging dynamic as well.

"We’re continually working to incorporate more renewable energy into the grid"

Another important challenge is the workforce issues which are similar to other industries. There is a shortage of good talent who can maintain the grid’s dependability and enable the necessary growth and development. That information comes from engineers, field technicians, testing personnel, contractors, and everyone else involved in updating or maintaining the grid.

What technologies or techniques have you used to make your daily tasks more efficient?

Software packages with smarter design capabilities, 3D design, and other tools have become increasingly popular over the past few years. When it comes to brand-new facilities, this is something that really allows you to shorten the design process. However, it has taken four or five years for them to be integrated into smart designs where the software packages can actually do some design work for you and speed up the design process. It’s not always simple to implement for existing facilities that require modifications.

On the construction side, it comes down to standardizing more of these designs. our clients in this sector are actively seeking to standardize some of their designs and procedures in order to eliminate the inefficiencies that come with constantly trying something new and instead focus on more repetitive labor.

What one piece of advice would you give to aspiring professionals in this field?

The industry as a whole is so short-staffed; I would say the ability to plan in advance and start having conversations about future plans is extremely important, whether that’s consulting companies or contractors. 10 to 15 years ago, if you fell behind on a project and required certain pieces of material, you could pay extra to have them brought to you right away. Those options are simply not available today.

today there is more demand than supply. Therefore, the capacity to plan ahead and think through what you want to accomplish over the coming years is important. It will let you begin flushing out those plans and enables you to create partnerships between your clients and contractors to position yourself in a strong position to be extremely successful.