Skip to content
man bot

Technicians and associate professionals · code 3131

Power production plant operators

Power production plant operators operate, monitor and maintain switchboards and related equipment in electrical control centres which control the production and distribution of electrical or other power in transmission networks. The equipment operated includes reactors, turbines, generators and other auxiliary equipment in electrical power-generating stations. Tasks include - (a) operating, monitoring and inspecting various types of energy-generating power plants; (b) operating and controlling power-generating systems and equipment including boilers, turbines, generators, condensers and reactors in hydro, thermal, coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants to generate and distribute electrical power; (c) controlling start-up and shut-down of power plant equipment, controlling switching operations, regulating water levels and communicating with systems operators to regulate and coordinate transmission loads, frequency and line voltages; (d) taking readings from charts, meters and gauges at established intervals, troubleshooting and performing corrective action as necessary; (e) completing and maintaining station records, logs and reports, and communicating with other plant personnel to assess equipment operating status; (f) cleaning and maintaining equipment such as generators, boilers, turbines, pumps and compressors in order to prevent equipment failure or deterioration. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Distribution control operator - Electric power plant operator - Generating station operator - Hydroelectric power plant operator - Nuclear power plant operator - Power system operator - Solar power plant operator Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Steam engine and boiler operators - 8182

None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count. It ranks 217 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • power production plant operator

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

72.5
Holds up
against AI Not Exposed

AI could take on 27.5 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 27.5 = 72.5

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

46
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 6 US jobs

36.8
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 38.8 · hand skill 34.5 · cramped spaces 37 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 46 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 45.8, while the average is 27.5. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 45.8

    Completing and maintaining station records, logs and reports, and communicating with other plant personnel to assess equipment operating status

    Low
  2. 33.3

    Taking readings from charts, meters and gauges at established intervals, troubleshooting and performing corrective action as necessary

    Low
  3. 29.5

    Operating, monitoring and inspecting various types of energy generating power plants

    Low
  4. 24

    Controlling start-up and shut-down of power plant equipment, controlling switching operations, regulating water levels and communicating with systems operators to regulate and coordinate transmission loads, frequency and line voltages

    Very Low
  5. 19.3

    Operating and controlling power generating systems and equipment including boilers, turbines, generators, condensers, and reactors in hydro, thermal, coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear power plants to generate and distribute electrical power

    Very Low
  6. 13.5

    Cleaning and maintaining equipment such as generators, boilers, turbines, pumps, and compressors in order to prevent equipment failure or deterioration.

    Very Low

6 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

One Australian job matches, but only partly: not everyone in it does this job. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
69
AI does it for you
40

Helping wins by 29 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 3992

Compared with similar jobs

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” group, averaging 65.3. This one is above that.