Xley91

Hi, I'm currently looking at making the move to Canada and have been looking at Nova Scotia due to the quietness, the affordability of houses. I am aware I need to get certification to become a power engineer in each province. I have already started with Nova Scotia, I am just wondering if anyone has moved over to Canada as a power engineer? or is it better job prospects as a mechanical engineer? My experience is 5 years in industrial engineering and 5 years power industry. My highest qualification is a HNC in electrical engineering.

I would rather be based at one location with minimum travel to other sites as I have a young family I will be moving with me and want to spend as much time with them as possible. Also is anyone able to tell me what the average salaries would be in each province and job availability as I've seen a lot of jobs for class 3 & 1 power engineers by minimum class 4 and the one's I have seen would require a large pay cut from my current role.

If anyone could share their experiences with me that would be great and I'm always interested in hearing peoples advice.

christmasoompa

Hi, and welcome to BE.

Job Bank is the place to check for that. From that I'd personally forget NS, only 1 job advertised in the whole of the province! Salary there is $30ph so an annual salary of approx $52k, £30,000. Not sure if that's a salary cut from your current role but it gives you an idea at least. Will your spouse/partner be working? I'd think you'd need a second salary to support a family in Canada, unless you can buy a house outright and have no mortgage payments etc.

The salary for mechanical engineers is slightly better, and there are more jobs too, so that may be the way to go. Quebec seems to be the best option for both NOC codes, do you speak any French?

Have you looked in to visas too? Would you need a job offer to get a visa, or would you qualify without one?

YoshiPal2010

Power Engineering has a rising scale of competencies, from Class 4 to Class 1. The SAIT website gives the requirements for each level; my 4th Class cert. required me; to take a two-year course of instruction or 12 months of supervised work under a qualified Power Engineer. When you have passed the 4th Class, you can study for and take the 3rd Class. (If you have a relevant degree, you may be able to challenge the exam directly. One of my colleagues decided to do that; he barely passed the exam, so it is not a cakewalk).

Siouxie

https://novascotia.ca/lae/equipmentsafety/engineer.asp
Power engineers / Stationary engineers / Operating engineers don't necesarily just deal with 'power' - they can deal with pressure boilers, refrigeration plants.. cogeneration plants.. are you sure that's the best fit for your experience? A 4th Class will get you a very basic job and depending on the plant size / power level you may spend more time water testing than operating. The examinations are intense and require a lot of study and years of experience in some cases - there's a minimum hourly operating time to even take the exams (my former partner is a Power Engineer 2nd Class).

I would use the NOC guide to find your best fit.. check the description and the main duties and see if you would meet a good chunk of them experience wise.
Power Engineer - https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3V...11&MLV=4&CLV=4

Do bear in mind that the term "Engineer" is protected in Canada so you would need to meet strict guidelines to be able to use it.. 'mechanical engineer' is someone who designs.. https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3V...11&CLV=4&MLV=4
an Electrical Engineer requires a degree - https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3V...11&CLV=4&MLV=4
If you mean hands on fixing machinery etc., then it's better known as a Millwright.. https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3V...11&MLV=4&CLV=4

YoshiPal2010

There are some practice exams on-line, which should give you an indication of the knowledge involved..

Xley91

Thank you for your replies, I will have a look into the links that you have recommended and even try a few of these example tests. In terms of experience I have worked in stations from 7MW steam turbine only up to 890MW two gas turbines and one steam turbine. So I have a variety of experience and I wasn't aware about the engineers are more designing base, I would definitely class myself as more of a millwright than an engineer in this case, this should help me look for jobs suited to my skill level. I also don't speak any french so Quebec is out the window unfortunately as it looks like a wonderful place.

Also I hope everyone is doing well over there I know here in the UK it's a bit strange with this current lock down but hopefully we will get through this.

getoutofbritainquick

I currently work for BC Hydro in Victoria as a Field manager. Getting into the industry as a Power Engineer is not easy and not all Provinces have much Fossil Fuel power plants which are gradually being phased out for cleaner alternatives. Here in BC Hydro we only have 2 'Fixed' fossil fuel plants, one at Fort Nelson and the other at Burrard Inlet in Vancouver (which is on its last legs and only used as an emergency back up). I am a qualified Power Plant Engineer trained in the UK with a HND. I started in the industry in 1979 and did my 5 year apprenticeship with the CEGB based at Kingsnorth Power Station in Kent. As soon as I completed my training I moved over to the Transmission side of the business to escape the heat, noise, asbestos, dirt and all the other nasty things in a fossil fuel plant in those days.

My family and I moved to BC back in 2007 after I secured a job with BC Hydro from the UK. I carried out years of research and found it very frustrating trying to make contact with potential employers and very nearly didn't come to Canada at all - but thats another story. You are correct that you will need to qualify as a Stationary Engineer in Canada to work in these plants which will require you to become a member of a Professional Engineers Association, which is not easy. A salary of $52k is appalling low, our Mechanics and Electricians start on $75k! If I were you I would look at some of the bigger utilities in Canada, like Quebec Hydro, Manitoba Hydro, BC Hydro, Hydro One etc. I wouldn't limit your search to working in a Fossil Fuel power plant either. There are a lot of Hydro stations in certain Provinces in Canada which require mechanical engineers and also a few independents who run wind farms and run-of-the river hydro stations.

As I said earlier I transferred over to the Transmission side of the business and have worked in many Substations during my 41 years in the industry and worked my way up into management without a degree. I have managed the transmission substations in London for National Grid, before I moved to BC and have since managed Transmission and Distribution substations in Surrey, Richmond, Vancouver before downsizing to Victoria and also have my own Hydro plant to play with at Jordan River which is really good fun. The work environment is absolutely amazing and have done things here I could only have dreamed of in a stunning Province full of beautiful scenery.

Just to give you an idea of salaries in the industry which I believe is consistent across the major players across Canada a trade would typically start at around $75k but I know many earn far in excess of that with OT with the highest paid trades can earn well over $200k especially in the line and cable trades. Engineers are actually not the highest paid for their qualifications which start at around $85k for a junior P1 Engineer P1 and rise to about $150k for a P4. There is a lot of competition from Asia for these positions who tend to work for less pay.

Do a bit more research and don't limit yourself to one particular area, as I said fossil fuel plants are on the way out and Canada has lots of Hydro. There are far more options in the Utilities than meets the eye. There hard part is getting in, once your in it's a fabulous life. Even with this Covid crises I am still working and directing my team from home working for a great, compassionate company.

Xley91

Thank you so much for the info I would be interested in hearing why you almost didn’t make the move.

I never thought about leaving the power station for transmission side of things but would definitely be interested. So far I have worked in a waste to energy and 3 GT stations but never hydro, which would be interesting. I have plenty of questions for you in terms of what’s the biggest difference between the uk industry and the Canadian industry.

Whats the best way to get registered as a stationary engineer and is there a way to get registered for all the provinces or do you have to individually register to each?

What professional engineers associations are there in Canada and what is the procedure to join.

Did you attend any immigration events in the uk or Canada before making the move?

Whats the best way to get in touch with potential employers as I’ve heard some companies don’t seem to entertain foreign applicants.

I’m planning on coming to Canada for a honeymoon later in the year as long as travel is back to normal is there any advantage trying to arrange meetings with potential employers. (I know it’s not ideal to plan meetings on my honeymoon but it gives me a chance to see people face to face)

once again thanks for replying you have given me a lot to think about.

Siouxie

https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Categ...Hunting-Canada
https://nipe.ca/ and https://nipe.ca/education/

getoutofbritainquick

I never thought about leaving the power station for transmission side of things but would definitely be interested. So far I have worked in a waste to energy and 3 GT stations but never hydro, which would be interesting. I have plenty of questions for you in terms of what’s the biggest difference between the uk industry and the Canadian industry.

Simple answer - evolution and capacity. The UK power system is far more evolved than here out west. Max. demand is only around 10,000 MW in mid winter. It was like traveling back in time when I first joined Hydro. Lots of very old outdated equipment. Oil circuit breakers were still widely used, substations were very basic design i.e. ring bus, no double bus systems at all and major cities like downtown Vancouver fed by only 2 transformers (it was a disaster when one failed and we had to rush a third one in). There was even a DC link which still used mercury arc valves! The system could not cope with the rapid expansion of the cities and huge sums of capital had to be spent on sustaining and increasing capacity of the system, hence cost per unit has risen from 6c per Kw/hr in 2007 to over 18c in 2019 for the second tear rate. Safety was appalling (people were getting hurt or killed). There are 2 separate safety rule systems - 1 for Generation (lockout) and 1 for T & D (tag out). 4 limits of approach for each voltage class rather than 1 in the UK. Being a public utility is is politically driven by whoever is in government at the time (big issue with direction). Lack of forward thinking and stuck in a mind set which was very frustrating to work with. Security was appalling - stations secured by chain link fence led to massive copper theft. The Lower mainland was dreadful for copper theft now its arrived in Victoria as the city has densified. My stations now get broken into every week and its costing a lot of money.
The positives working in an incredible natural environment. Travel to conferences in the US. Hydro stations are clean and noisy but don't have masses of auxiliary equipment compared to fossil fuel or nuclear plants. Rapid start up times which is great for system stability, excellent salary, good opportunities to move around and develop.

What's the best way to get registered as a stationary engineer and is there a way to get registered for all the provinces or do you have to individually register to each?

See other thread for qualification requirements or check out this link: https://careertrend.com/how-6771434-...er-canada.html

What professional engineers associations are there in Canada and what is the procedure to join.

See other thread for qualification requirements hear in BC you would register https://www.egbc.ca/

Did you attend any immigration events in the uk or Canada before making the move?

Yes as many as I could find. We even met up with similar minded people in the Maple Leaf pub in London.

What's the best way to get in touch with potential employers as I’ve heard some companies don’t seem to entertain foreign applicants.

That's the difficult part. In Canada, mainly due its very low population density its very much who you know. I dont think its so much they don't employ foreign applicants because there are lots of diversity here in Hydro with people from all over the world. I can't speak for the rest of Canada but certainly not in BC.
My family and I almost gave up with moving to Canada. I found it very challenging connecting with anyone in the industry even though we had our PR. When I was researching moving to BC in 2003 it was well recognised that there was an impending skill shortage looming with the boomers coming up for retirement. Despite employees acknowledging this fact on their recruitment advertisements sending resumes, writing, applying for vacancies or calling them did not seem to work. Here is my brief story how I got in. I set up a Monster account from the UK and had many recruitment agencies contact me for work in most regions other than Canada and the US. I got to know one guy from a company called Gemini Recruitment. This person contacted me frequently for vacant positions mainly in Europe. In one conversation I asked him if his company had any contacts in Canada, to my surprise he did and I managed to get hold of a couple of retired Hydro worked details. I wrote to them asking for information about the company, nothing heavy just general advice about the company. To cut a long story short, one guy replied back to me and just so happened to be a relation of someone still working in the company. He passed on my resume to this person and within a few weeks someone from HR contacted me to set up a phone interview. Within a few weeks of the phone interview they asked me to come to BC for a face to face interview and the rest they say is history. If I had not made this one contact we probably wouldn't have come to Canada and had a fabulous lifestyle.