Operations Engineer

POSITION OVERVIEW:

The Operations Engineer provides technical support and analysis for system and field operations staff. This role involves addressing operational issues, including technical shift questions from system operators and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), handling equipment concerns, and troubleshooting. Additionally, the Operations Engineer models system outage requirements updates operational models, develops standard operating procedures, and establishes collaboration protocols with both internal and external stakeholders. This position is based in Austin, TX.

JOB FUNCTION:

• Participate and assist system operators during real-time events and emergencies.
• Provide technical shift support to system operators and operations field staff (i.e. system operating parameters and voltage analysis; relay operation review, system alarm investigation).
• Serve as technical lead/liaison between operations and engineering/planning department.
• Assist with North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Transmission Availability Data System (TADS) reporting.
• Ensure staff understanding and compliance with ERCOT nodal protocols and operating guides.
• Lead ERCOT market notice reviews and response coordination.
• Assist with annual technical procedural reviews/updates and coordinate approvals with internal stakeholders.
• Support company process / submit change requests to ERCOT as required.
• Assist the company Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) team by investigating SCADA alarm functions, areas for improvement, and technical enhancements.
• Coordinate closely with the internal compliance department to ensure compliance with NERC requirements.
• Assist in facility rating reviews.
• Assistance and management of department projects such as asset health monitoring and integrated tools for operations applications.
• Cross-coordination with multiple departments such as IT, planning, engineering, construction, regulatory, and compliance.
• Review relay event reports and relay setting adequacy during fault events
• Participate and provide input during new project design reviews - review and provide feedback on applicable new project drawings, relay setting requirements, and operational design requirements.
• Develop and present reports to department teams, leadership, and other company departments.
• Maintain internal Operations event and issues database and coordinate with stakeholder groups to seek resolution of operations issues.
• Support development of technical operating documents such as; outage request criteria for company-specific lines and interconnecting lines/generators; voltage analysis prior to equipment energization, and company reactor operation protocols.
• Assists in developing tools, processes, and procedures that enhance system reliability and departmental efficiencies.
• Attend various working groups as a company representative (voltage profile working group, operations working group, network data support working group).
• The Operations Engineer will be responsible for modeling all outage requests prior to submittal to ERCOT.
• Proficiency in ERCOT’s System Operations Test Environment (SOTE) outage modeling platform.
• Coordinate with internal stakeholders when submitted outages cannot be requested due to SOTE model issues with system overloads, contingencies, and other operational violations.
• Assist with neighboring Transmission Service Providers (TSP) and external stakeholder outage coordination efforts.
• Support identifying switching solutions for requested outages.
• Identify future outage limitations and criteria for company transmission lines.
• Study overall system conditions to identify outage opportunities (i.e. low load cases, possible outage durations, overlapping outages).

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION:

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or Electrical Engineering Technology is required.
• Minimum of 5 years of work experience in transmission system operations is required.
• Candidate must be familiar with ERCOT nodal protocols and operating guides.
• Experience with ERCOT System Operations Test Environment (SOTE).
• Experience with ERCOT Network Operations Model Change Request (NOMCR) process.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Professional Engineers (PE) in the state of Texas is preferred.
• Ability to use and quickly comprehend computer-based systems utilized for content management, data entry, data tracking, and work processes.
• Ability to create presentations, charts, tables, and graphs for data illustration.
• Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook).
• Experience with utilizing various ERCOT tools such as outage scheduling, SOTE, and NOMCR.
• Knowledge of PSSE or other similar power system modeling programs
• Communication.
• Organization of information, assigned tasks, communications, and data.
• Documentation and tracking of critical information.
• Time management.
• Electrical schematic and control/protection circuit interpretation
• Understanding of AC/DC diagrams
• Understanding of GE and SEL relay logic/functionality
• General understanding of SCADA systems