Renewables Performance Engineer

Renewables Performance Engineer / Analyst

JOB SUMMARY:  This position will function as part of the Southern Power Monitoring & Diagnostics (M&D) Center which provides remote monitoring and diagnostic support to the SPC fleet of gas, biomass, wind, and solar generating assets across the country.  The Performance Engineer/Analyst will utilize basic engineering concepts and accumulated knowledge to efficiently diagnose and manage issues to continuously improve the SPC renewable (solar, wind, energy storage) fleet performance.

This position is responsible for the following: 

• Querying, analyzing, and modeling large disparate energy operational data as they pertain to performance and reliability
• Reporting on and assisting in improving performance and reliability 
• Manage power performance testing and energy guarantee testing
• Track and report on lost energy during outage events 
• Track and report on data quality issues

This position will closely support and interface with M&D Analysts, ROC Operators, Renewable Analysts, and plant personnel in these activities.

This position will be located at the Southern Power M&D Center in Birmingham, AL and will be filled at a level and job classification commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the successful candidate.

JOB REQUIREMENTS: 

EXPERIENCE:

• Minimum 3 years or more experience in reliability or performance engineer in solar/wind power generation.
• A strong understanding of SCADA event and fault codes of different manufacturer inverters pertaining to availability and performance calculations. 
• Hands-on experience with plant data historian (AVEVA PI) – building trends and analyzing data - preferred.
• Experience with data management techniques to access, integrate, and present data from multiple sources is desired (Excel, Databricks, Power BI, Tableau, PI Vision, etc).
• Experience with Python, SQL is a plus
• Experience supporting long-term EPC tests for renewables projects including power performance testing 
• Experience in organizing and managing multiple projects at the same time. Proven ability to plan and ability to discern problems that need immediate attention versus those that allow more time to resolve.

KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Renewable Energy, Business Administration, or a related field preferred.
• Ability to use multiple data sources such as SCADA, plant controls, cloud data storage, and data historians to troubleshoot plant performance issues. 
• Working knowledge of solar or wind performance metrics is required.
• Ability to present analysis and conclusions in a clear format that can be understood by both technical and non-technical audiences. 
• Able to work independently or as a member of a team to develop innovative solutions to challenging technical problems.

BEHAVIORAL ATTRIBUTES

• Must be able to make timely decisions, apply seasoned judgment, and display personal responsibility.
• Display unquestionable trust, superior performance, and total commitment.
• Be a team player - able to quickly build good working relationships
• Staying current on relevant industry trends
• Results oriented self-starter that can work independently
• Promote Safety First Behaviors

MAJOR JOB RESPONSIBILITIES: 

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Query data from various databases including AVEVA PI.
• Perform performance and reliability analyses inclusive of metric calculations and dashboard development. 
• Provide analytical support to maintenance management and technical personnel on an ad-hoc and scheduled basis. 
• Measure fleet performance against established metrics and compare actual to forecasted performance and reliability
• Identify performance shortfalls and determine potential causes.
• Summarize findings, including developed conclusions and recommendations, in both informal and formal meetings and documents.
• Track and report on all lost energy events caused by outages, derates, curtailments or other conditions
• Conduct and report on data quality issues, tag scaling issues or other related data protocol. 
• Provide continuous first response performance support to operations and maintenance personnel.
• Forecast performance improvements expected from corrective actions such as design changes and operations controls changes.
• Originate and/or evaluate modification and upgrade opportunities for the SPC renewable fleet for key systems.
• Assist in new technology selection for power generation systems and assist in quantifying value of increased output and/or efficiency.
• Manage and coordinate performance tests for wind projects.

Total travel time will be no more than 25%.