The U.S. Department of Energy is evaluating dozens of proposals from universities and others seeking a total of 100 million in grants to train tomorrow's smart electric grid engineers and technicians. As many as 30,000 new technical jobs could be needed over the next few years as today's electric grid transitions to a digital network.

At least two surveys estimate as many as 47% of today's power engineers will be eligible for retirement or leave the industry in the next five years.