Senior Resource Planning Analyst

Are you looking for an exciting job where you can put your skills and talents to work at a company you can feel proud to be a part of? Do you want a workplace that will challenge you and offer you opportunities to learn and grow? A position at Xcel Energy could be just what you’re looking for.

This modeling-focused team is responsible for model development, innovation, testing, and integration with the enterprise data fabric. The team is composed of technical experts in economics, engineering, and mathematics.

We are seeking subject matter experts with experience in capacity expansion and production cost analysis, nodal analysis, regional transmission analysis, reliability studies, or operations research related to the electric utility industry.

Position Summary Model, analyze, and develop resource expansion plans to meet electric system growth requirements for the Xcel operating utility companies. Prepare and perform generation expansion modeling studies. Provide project management for resource solicitations and resource plan development, which requires developing recommendations based on extensive modeling and analysis by an analytical team including outside consultants. Prepare extensive reports for regulators. Present and defend recommendations to senior management.

Testify in administrative hearings. Investigate and develop quantitative techniques to improve analytical processes. Be a resource to Resource Planning Analysts. Be the generation planning expert for one of the larger Xcel Energy utilities. Accept responsibility for the most difficult analytical efforts required in the department.

Through extensive modeling and other quantitative techniques, develop comprehensive plans to obtain or add new capacity and energy resources (e.g. new generation plants) in the most cost-effective manner. Such plans and processes must be developed for each company and state, within resource planning / acquisition rules that govern the expansion of the system / addition of new generation and/or purchased power resources.

Project manage development of these resource plans for larger Xcel Energy operating utilities. Lead team in preparing and performing the modeling studies required to discover the optimal portfolio of generation resources to meet customer energy and peak demand. Such teams are often span 20-30 people across departments are including outside consultants. Recommend plan to senior officers. These recommendations often lead to decisions valued in excess of $1billion dollars, undergo intense public scrutiny and cost $.5 to 2million to develop.

Interface with regulators, interveners, including political and special interest groups, customers, and power suppliers to obtain consensus, support, and/or regulatory approval of optimal resource plans. This includes writing testimony, testifying in administrative hearings, negotiating settlement agreements, presenting plans. It also included gaining acceptance of plans from executive management, regulators and external groups.

Prepare and perform expansion and production cost economic modeling of alternative supply plans and resources to develop optimal supply‑demand portfolios for each Xcel Energy operating utility, incorporating consideration of various risks (e.g. fuel prices, electric market prices, reliability criteria, environmental requirements, technology development scenarios, etc.).

Develop new quantitative processes to analyze risk issues.

Interface and work with Forecasting, Risk Management, Trading, Gas Supply, Coal Supply, Transmission Operations, Regulatory Services, Retail and other Xcel groups to incorporate short-term and long-range considerations into the resource plans, including transmission constraints, growth forecasts, demand side management forecasts, fuel and electricity market price risks, etc.

In conjunction with Risk Management, ensure that the expansion plan and production cost modeling of the utility power systems is accurate and current in terms of fuel costs, production capability (heat rates, capacity, starting and variable operating cost, etc.), contract terms (scheduling flexibility,…