JOIN USThe liberalisation of the power sector has changed the nature of power business and has unlocked arenas for newer technologies.
A career in energy management, looks promising as the field has greatly expanded in the last few years. In any industrial setup, energy management is the maiden step to save money and improve sustainability. An energy management professional is required in almost all fields of economic activities such as refineries and petrochemicals, housing, real estate and construction.
The central government’s Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana and Integrated Power Development Scheme along with the recently launched Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana are some of the schemes by the central government that have ensured employment opportunities in the form of businesses and jobs.
The field of work includes the installation of ultra mega power projects and power generators, construction of transmission lines along with the consolidation of the electricity distribution framework, to name a few. This will generate demand for energy management professionals who are able to optimise the consumption of energy in efficient ways.
Gain an understanding
Most of the energy management studies are preparing students to understand methods to save energy and reduce operational costs. Courses in energy management teach students how to make the maximise the use of the sources of energy.
These programmes help students get an in-depth understanding about managing the energy resources and better utilisations of resources in evolving clean energy development mechanisms. There are graduate, postgraduate, diploma and certificate programmes in energy management that one can choose from.
With B-schools providing a host of courses designed specifically for students who wish to pursue energy management, a lot can be done in terms of prioritising energy-saving measures, recommending energy efficient technologies and alternate energy sources.
Forging a career
Professionals in energy management have lucrative career opportunities. Opportunities are also available in sectors like renewable energy, particularly in wind and solar energy. With the government focused on the Digital India vision, each electricity consumer record shall be digitised and the business processes such as recording the reading, billing and revenue collection, new connection, and disconnection shall be done using uniform software systems.
This again will open up a lot of job prospects for energy management professionals. Be it generation, transmission or distribution of power, information technology plays a crucial role in the business process of power purchase, supervisory control on the grid, remote data acquisition, billing of electricity, Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and Customer relationship management (CRM).
The Energy Conservation Act (2001) states that every energy intensive industry, such as sugar, iron and steel, textiles, chemicals, railways, transport and petrochemicals, has to designate or appoint an energy manager, which requires technical expertise with managerial skills. This has also led to the generation of job opportunities for energy management professionals.
Several startups have also mushroomed to look at how energy can be conserved. They are looking into decentralising generation and distribution of renewable energy, and are also tracking and analysing energy use in industries. As a result of the immense potential in this field, private equity funds and venture capitalists are investing huge amounts of money even in the field’s new ventures.
This rapidly emerging energy sector is indeed opening up innumerable opportunities for all those willing to pursue a career in the energy sector.
(The author is with Management Development Institute, Gurgaon)