2027 Spring Co-op - Operations Planning Engineer

MISO•Eagan, MN

1d•Onsite

About The Position

As an Operations Planning Engineer Co-op, you will gain insight into the planning and operation of a large electric grid. You will support outage planning processes for an electric system spanning 15 states, analyzing future grid conditions and determining safe and reliable paths for maintenance, construction, and system changes. This role involves hands-on experience with power system analysis tools, grid modeling software, contingency analysis, system studies, transmission outage planning, reliability analysis, model validation, and operational project support. You will run power flow studies, review system models, and evaluate the impact of planned transmission outages. You will collaborate with experienced engineers to analyze contingencies, identify reliability concerns, and determine necessary actions to ensure safe and reliable electricity flow. This fast-paced environment offers the opportunity to see how your analysis contributes to maintenance planning, infrastructure projects, grid condition management, and challenge preparation. You will gain cross-functional exposure to Operations Planning, Real-Time Operations, Day Ahead Market Operations, Transmission Planning, and other reliability-focused teams, understanding the integration of engineering, operations, and markets in a large interconnected system. As a capstone experience, you will present a summary of your project's contribution to daily grid management operations.

Requirements

Completion of core Electrical Engineering coursework.
Undergraduate (Juniors or Seniors) academic level.
Ability to connect Electrical Engineering coursework to real-world grid challenges.
Professional experience collaborating across engineering, operations, planning, and market teams.

Nice To Haves

Coursework in Power Systems Analysis.
Programming experience such as Python, MATLAB, or C++.
Hands-on projects or internships related to grid modeling or system studies.

Responsibilities

Support the outage planning processes for a complex electric system.
Analyze future grid conditions.
Determine safe and reliable paths for maintenance, construction, and other changes to the system.
Run power flow studies.
Review system models.
Evaluate how planned transmission outages could affect the grid.
Analyze contingencies.
Identify potential reliability concerns.
Determine actions needed to keep electricity flowing safely and reliably.
Collaborate with teams across Operations Planning, Real-Time Operations, Day Ahead Market Operations, Transmission Planning, and other areas responsible for maintaining system reliability and supporting MISO’s energy markets.
Present a concise summary demonstrating how your project contributes to the daily operational needs of grid management.