PE Electrical Power study guide
PE Electrical Power · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) Electrical and Computer: Power exam is one of the discipline-specific PE examinations NCEES administers for engineers pursuing professional licensure. NCEES describes the PE exam as testing for a minimum level of competency in a particular engineering discipline, and it is designed for engineers who have gained a minimum of four years of post-college work experience in their chosen engineering discipline. Because NCEES offers more than 20 different PE exams, confirm you are registering for the Power discipline and not the Computer Engineering or Electrical and Electronics versions. The Power exam samples the breadth of practice expected of an electrical power engineer: circuit analysis, measurement and instrumentation; rotating machines and electromagnetic devices; transmission and distribution; and power system analysis, protection, and power electronics. The PE Electrical Power study guide has 4 sections and about 1,845 words.
01Circuit Analysis, Measurement, and Instrumentation
Begin each problem by fixing a reference: choose a phase voltage, state whether values are rms or peak, and record the sign convention for current. For sinusoidal steady state, convert to phasors and use Z = R + jX; keep inductance as +jX and capacitance as −jX.
328 words, about 2 min02Rotating Machines and Electromagnetic Devices
For any AC machine, first find synchronous speed from n s = 120f/P, where P is the number of poles. An induction motor runs below n s; slip is s = (n s − n r)/n s, and rotor frequency is sf.
325 words, about 2 min03Transmission and Distribution
Transmission questions usually reduce to line parameters, voltage drop, and thermal or voltage limits. Compute per-phase resistance and reactance from per-mile or per-km data, then use the sending-end voltage V s = V r + I(R + jX) for a short line.
312 words, about 2 min04Power System Analysis
Use per-unit analysis to remove transformer voltage levels. Choose S base and V base, then I base = S base/(√3 V base) and Z base = V base²/S base for three-phase studies, with V base always line-to-line.
880 words, about 4 min