Sr. Power Systems Engineer

Senior Power Systems Engineer

The Senior Power Systems Engineer (Engineer) is responsible for providing technical support for transmission and substation assets, synchronous condenser facilities, equipment reliability programs, outage coordination support, and asset health initiatives. In this role, the engineer will be responsible for responding to operational issues such as technical shift questions from system operators and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), equipment issues, and troubleshooting efforts.

The engineer will also be responsible for modeling system outage requirements, updating operational models, developing standard operating procedures, and establishing collaboration protocols between internal and external stakeholders.

This position will be located in Austin, TX, and will report to the Operations Engineering Manager.

Equipment Engineering and Reliability:

• Provide engineering support for synchronous condenser facilities and associated auxiliary systems.
• Develop equipment maintenance strategies and reliability programs.
• Lead equipment failure investigations and root cause analyses.
• Support commissioning and energization of new facilities and major modifications.
• Review equipment specifications and factory acceptance testing documentation.
• Develop asset health assessments and equipment risk mitigation strategies.
• Support critical spare equipment strategy and inventory planning.
• Provide technical support for major equipment outages and restoration activities.

System Operations:

• Participate and assist system operators during real time events and emergencies.
• Provide technical shift support to system operators and operations field staff (i.e. system operating parameters and voltage analysis; relay operation review, system alarm investigation).
• Serve as technical lead/liaison between operations and WETT engineering/planning department.
• Ensure staff understanding and compliance with ERCOT nodal protocols and operating guides.
• Lead ERCOT market notice reviews and response coordination (i.e. GMD, voltage profile, HITE list).
• Perform annual technical procedural reviews/updates and coordinate approvals with stakeholders.
• Assist WETT's Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) team by investigating SCADA alarm functions/limits, areas for improvement, and technical enhancements.
• Cross-coordination with multiple departments such as IT, planning, engineering, construction, regulatory, and compliance.
• Coordinate relay event reports review with WETT's protection and control engineers and field technicians.
• Participate and provide input during new project design reviews - review and provide feedback on applicable new project drawings and operational design requirements.
• Support development of technical operating documents.
• Attend various working groups as WETT's representative (voltage profile working group, operations working group, network data support working group).
• Develop and maintain a working knowledge of WETT's outage coordination processes to support engineering studies, operational planning, and planned equipment outages.

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or Electrical Engineering Technology is required. Degree in Mechanical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering Technology is also acceptable.

Skills and Experience:

Required:

• Minimum 7 years work experience in transmission system operations is required.
• Transmission or generation engineering experience.
• High-voltage substation equipment experience.
• Equipment troubleshooting and root cause analysis experience.

Preferred:

• Candidate must be familiar with ERCOT nodal protocols and operating guides.
• Experience with ERCOT System Operations Test Environment (SOTE).
• Experience with ERCOT Network Operations Model Change Request (NOMCR) process.
• Experience with Power System Simulator for Engineering (PSSE).
• Experience with synchronous condensers or large rotating equipment preferred.
• Experience with power transformers, circuit breakers, and protection and control systems.
• Experience with commissioning and energization activities.
• Experience…