Associate, Interconnection

Dana Point, California, United States;
Lake Oswego, Oregon, United States;
Phoenix, Arizona, United States;
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Copia Power (“Copia”) is a Carlyle-backed energy and digital infrastructure platform that develops, constructs, and operates large-scale assets across the U.S. to accelerate the electrification and growth of the digital economy. Copia Power has over 2,600 MW of energy generation and storage assets in operation or under construction and is actively developing over 15 GW of grid-connected data centers supported by Copia’s portfolio of gigawatt-scale energy campuses comprising more than 25 GW of solar and storage and 7 GW of natural gas generation assets.

At Copia, we pride ourselves on a culture where sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. We are dedicated to making a meaningful impact on the environment, and we believe that achieving this goal requires not just hard work but also enjoying the journey. Our team thrives on connectivity, fostering strong relationships across all levels of the organization. Together, we combine passion and playfulness to drive progress and make a difference.

Copia is seeking an Associate, Interconnection to manage generation interconnection requests, coordinate application and study processes, and lead interconnection agreement negotiations, as well as support facility construction for renewable energy projects in the US. The ideal candidate will be responsible for managing, coordinating, and leading all aspects of the generation interconnection process and related engineering for solar, energy storage, and natural gas projects.

This role requires extensive knowledge of FERC large generator interconnection processes and tariff requirements, experience supporting early-stage development of utility-scale interconnection projects and GIA negotiations/executions, and familiarity with interconnection and power flow studies.

The Associate, Interconnection will report directly to the Director of Transmission & Interconnection, working closely with Copia’s asset management, energy markets, legal, and finance teams in an individual contributor capacity.

• Support and coordinate the generation and load interconnection process for utility-scale solar, energy storage, natural gas, and data center projects, including pre-application feasibility analysis, interconnection application submission, interconnection study & agreement processes, communicating study results, and EPC milestone management.
• Provide responses and analysis to internal site selection processes to determine feasible transmission locations to apply for interconnection, timed and coordinated to support queue application open windows
• Request and coordinate application technical packages prepared by transmission consulting engineers
• Submit interconnection applications to ISOs/Utilities
• Support timely execution of study agreement and payment of deposits and study fees
• Track execution of queue milestones such as:
  • Deficiency corrections
  • Scoping meetings
  • Study agreement execution and funding
  • Study results meetings
  • Generator and Load Interconnection Agreement negotiation and execution
  • GIA and Load Milestone tracking and execution
• Coordinate with utilities, regulatory agencies, and other stakeholders to obtain interconnection approvals.
• Participate in ISO/PTO Generation Interconnection and other stakeholder forums to stay current on industry changes and trends.
• Coordinate with Land Acquisition, Engineering, Permitting, EPC, and Operations teams to develop a strong pipeline of solar, energy storage, natural gas, and data center projects
• Provide interconnection support for project acquisition and financing activities
• Provide coordination support for co-location of generation projects with data center campuses
• Support development and maintenance of company tracking tools
• Ensures all milestones are kept up to date in company tracking tools
• Support consultant and other service provider activities, including tracking work order status

• Ability to communicate effectively in verbal and written correspondence.
• Highly driven with problem-solving…