Research Engineer II – Bulk Power System Modeling

Overview

At PNNL, our core capabilities are divided among major departments that we refer to as Directorates within the Lab, focused on a specific area of scientific research or other function, with its own leadership team and dedicated budget.

Our Science & Technology directorates include National Security, Earth and Biological Sciences, Physical and Computational Sciences, and Energy and Environment. In addition, we have an Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a Department of Energy, Office of Science user facility housed on the PNNL campus.

The Energy and Environment Directoratedeliversscience and technology solutions for the nation’s biggest energy and environmental challenges. Our more than 1,700 staff support the Department of Energy (DOE), delivering on key DOE mission areas including: modernizing our nation’s power grid to maintain a reliable, affordable, secure, and resilient electricity delivery infrastructure; research, development, validation, and effective utilization of renewable energy and efficiency technologies that improve the affordability, reliability, resiliency, and security of the American energy system;

and resolving complex issues in nuclear science, energy, and environmental management.

The Electricity Infrastructure and Buildings Division, part of the Energy and Environment Directorate, is accelerating the transition to an efficient, resilient, and secure energy system through basic and applied research. We leverage a strong technical foundation in power and energy systems and advanced data analytics to drive innovation, transform markets, and shape energy policy.

Within this division, the Power System Modeling Group (PSMG) develops advanced simulation, analysis, and optimization tools to understand and enhance grid performance across all levels, from the bulk energy system to the distribution grid.

PNNL seeks a creative and interdisciplinary Power Systems Research Engineer to conduct applied research in bulk electric system modeling, transmission planning, and grid analytics. The successful candidate will develop and apply power-flow, contingency-analysis, transfer-analysis, and optimization methods to evaluate current and future transmission system performance under changing generation, load, and infrastructure conditions.

This role will contribute to nationally significant studies that support grid reliability, resilience, and energy transition objectives. Work will include building and using research-grade software workflows; automating commercial and open-source power-system simulation environments; analyzing large-scale transmission planning cases; and translating technical findings into actionable insights for DOE, utilities, system operators, and other stakeholders.

The staff member will work in interdisciplinary teams spanning power systems, software engineering, data science, and applied mathematics. The position is intended for a Level 2 researcher who can independently execute well-defined technical tasks, contribute to study design, document methods and results, and grow into leadership of large tasks, projects or focused research components.

• Develop, run, and interpret bulk power system studies, including steady-state power flow, N-1 and selected higher-order contingency analysis, transfer capability analysis, congestion and overload assessment, and mitigation strategy evaluation.
• Design, implement, and maintain Python-based workflows that automate power-system simulation tools such as Power World, PSS/E, PSLF, or comparable platforms for large-scale planning and operations studies.
• Contribute to transmission planning studies involving renewable and offshore wind integration, inter-regional transfer capability, resource deliverability, transmission element upgrades, and grid resilience.
• Apply optimization, data-driven modeling, and machine learning techniques to power-system planning problems such as economic redispatch, optimal power flow, upgrade screening, dynamic model parameterization, and uncertainty analysis.
• Develop and validate reusable software tools, scripts, models, and visualization products that…