The Department of Power Engineering, currently operating within the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Wrocław University of Technology, was established on October 1, 2014, under the Internal Ordinance of the Rector of Wrocław University of Science and Technology. According to this ordinance, the previously functioning Institute of Power Engineering (I8) ceased its activity. The Department of Power Engineering (K2 - now K36W05D02) was established in its place. At the same time, the Institute of Power Engineering employees became employees of the Department of Power Engineering.

The Institute of Power Engineering was created from three units: the Department of Power Networks and Systems, the Department of Power Automation and Protection and the Department of Electrical Power Devices resulting from the organizational structure reform of the Wrocław University of Technology in 1968. The thematic scope represented by these three departments, constantly changed and updated over the years, was the core of the research and teaching activity of the Institute until the end of its existence. Its history, set out by wonderful people who created excellent research teams and passed on their knowledge and experience to their students, is also of great importance.  In its over thirty-year history, the Institute can be proud of many figures of outstanding merits for science and our university's development. The Department of Power Engineering, taking over the Institute of Power Engineering research staff, from the very beginning has been continuing the research and teaching activities of the Institute, also taking care to maintain good interpersonal relations and customs prevailing in the Department.

The Department of Power Engineering is proud that its employees have obtained the highest academic dignity: the honoris causa doctorate (prof. Andrzej Wiszniewski - honoris causa doctorate of three universities: Wrocław University of Technology, Lviv University of Technology and Central Connecticut State University (USA), and prof. Marian Cegielski - honoris causa doctorate of the University of Mariupol). The group of these personalities has also been joined by: prof. Janusz Szafran - honoris causa doctorate at Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, 2006 and prof. Waldemar Rebizant - honoris causa doctorate at Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, 2014.

The Department of Power Engineering currently operates in three research and teaching divisions:

• Power System Control and Protection
• Electrical Power Equipment and Industrial Power Engineering
• Power Networks and Systems

The research fields carried out in the Department's divisions are largely similar to the previous Institute of Power Engineering. However, it covered new topics resulting from the continuous development of the power industry and the growing requirements of the economy for this technology field.