Engineer, Transmission Planning – Expansion Planning

Engineer, Transmission Planning – Expansion Planning

Company: Southern Company

Location: Birmingham, AL (APC HQ) or Atlanta, GA (GPC HQ) – travel required between sites

This is one of the most exciting and dynamic times in recent history for the power industry as we evaluate and implement new resources, renewable energy, and emerging technologies to build the future of energy for the advancement of our customers and communities during a time of significant load growth. Transmission planning plays a critical role in Southern Company’s success in achieving this goal by continuously developing a reliable, flexible, and resilient transmission grid that meets the needs of our future.

At Southern Company, our transmission planning organization encompasses all aspects of planning the transmission system for our subsidiary retail electric utilities in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, including expertise in many areas such as steady‑state and dynamic power system analysis, power quality and transient analysis, load modeling and base case development, annual transmission expansion plan development, reliability standards compliance, retail transmission load customer evaluations, OATT transmission service requests, generator interconnection and designation studies, generation RFP procurements, unit retirement and new build evaluations, regional planning and coordination with external utilities, interface analysis, GMD and EMP analysis, transmission policy and regulatory, industry committee leadership, and tools and technology innovation.

The expansion planning teams for SCS Transmission Planning have been restructured so that the formerly separate teams for APC and MPC (West) and GPC/GA ITS(East) are unified and integrated under one Transmission Planning team, TP Expansion Planning. This group now encompasses the entire service territory within APC, GPC/GA ITS, and MPC and has functional subgroups based on four key areas of responsibility:
1) Project Planning and Analysis,
2) Regulatory and Compliance Support,
3) Load Interconnection Studies, and
4) Long-Term Integrated System Planning. These groups are responsible for leading and performing transmission planning modeling and analyses in order to develop effective, reliable, and economic project solutions as well as supporting each operating company’s and ITS approval processes. This includes development of annual transmission expansion plans, NERC reliability compliance, state and federal regulatory support, evaluation of transmission load interconnection requests (high data center activity), and integrated system planning analyses for long-term transmission, load, generation, and fuel considerations.

• Lead and perform transmission planning power flow analyses in support of annual transmission plan development, load interconnection studies, integrated system planning, etc.
• Develop system‑wide power flow models and assumptions.
• Coordinate with multiple groups and internal stakeholders within Southern Company Services and the Operating Companies to develop innovative and cost‑effective solutions.
• Develop and deliver effective documentation and presentations to internal and external stakeholders to inform and gain consensus on system constraints and solution proposals.
• Participate in solution teams and other initiatives to determine transmission project feasibility, scope, and timing.
• Engage in related industry committees and initiatives.
• Research special technical issues impacting the electric power system.
• Prioritize and be proactive in training and development.

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from an ABET accredited institution is preferred (pending graduates will be considered)
• Master’s degree in engineering or business is desirable.
• Professional Engineering License is desirable.

• Transmission planning experience including electrical power system modeling and analysis is preferred.
• Experience in generation development, procurement, and resource planning is desirable.
• Experience in bulk power operations or…