Sr Engineer , BESS Operations

Austin, TX, US, 78701 Chicago, IL, US, 60654 White Plains, NY, US, NY 10606

RWE Americas, LLC

To start as soon as possible, full time, permanent

Functional area: Engineering

Remuneration: Exempt

The BESS Operations Engineering Team supports the existing RWE BESS fleet’s engineering needs to provide safe, highly available, and cost-effective Battery Storage electricity to our customers. We spearhead efforts to improve the performance of the existing plants via augmentation, design solutions to enable rapid return to service when equipment suffers casualties, and provide technical solutions when engineering support is needed by the site operations teams and asset management.

The team interacts directly with the BESS power plant’s operators, asset managers, and other support roles within RWE America.

This position will be the key analyst, reviewer, and SME for these efforts. Day-to-day work involves interaction with other engineers, staff, and plant operators to determine root causes of failures and evaluate the impact of proposed improvements, expansion, and equipment. The engineer will also lead annual capacity tests and provide analysis to make decisions on BESS augmentation.

The role leads efforts from opportunity identification through ‘go/no-go’ decisions and eventual completion of projects. Work involves collaboration with field staff, third party providers, and manufacturers – assessing how to improve plant energy yield.

• Review and analyze equipment faults and failures, as-built information, operations history, and data. Scrutinize based on downtime, cost, safety, and manpower. Capture technical, safety, and budgetary risks and assess them
• Coordinate BESS collection requirements amongst teams to ensure Availability, Capacity, SOC, cycling/throughput, ramp rates, standby, discharge, and charging metrics are met
• Ensure tracking, monitoring, and alarming of all warranty requirements are met, and understand the differences across OEMs
• Analyze the current portfolio together with the data analysts and determine upgrades and improvements to the power generation fleet to increase output and improve safety. Provide detailed recommendations for increased analysis and reporting to operations and data analytics teams
• Perform Root Cause Analysis (RCA) of failure modes in the RWECE BESS fleet with subsequent analysis of potential improvements to increase reliability and production
• Understands site-specific requirements and interconnection agreements, evaluates and selects alternatives, documenting the rationale and lessons learned along the way. Provides lessons learned to internal engineering for continuous improvement
• Interacts with Operations teams throughout the asset’s life to provide guidance on means and methods as needed. Travels to site to see equipment conditions, observe means and methods, and provide feedback.
• Engage external vendors. Research and apply new industry innovations to technical issues
• Independentlysupport operations where needed in immediate troubleshooting and issues
• As needed, lead external and internal teams to independently produce design drawings, calculations, and procedures for internal and external teams

• Bachelor of Science or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Civil Engineering, or similar field of engineering or equivalent experience
• E.I.T. certification preferred;
  Professional Engineering Certification is a plus
• A minimum of 7 years of professional experience in electrical operations, asset management, or design. A graduate degree in related fields may be considered as some relevant experience
• Strong track record in operations, field support, RFI’s, and working with…