Planning & Protection Engineer - New Castle, PA

FirstEnergy • New Castle, PA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

This Engineer position is responsible for the planning, protection, and reliability of Penn Power's distribution systems. The engineer performs analysis and recommends solutions to maintain a reliable electrical infrastructure that meets present and future electrical needs. The reporting location for this position is the New Castle Service Center in New Castle, PA. Candidates must reside or be willing to relocate to western Pennsylvania area for further consideration.

Requirements

• Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering / Electrical Engineering Technology from an ABET accredited institution is required.
• Acceptable alternatives are: (1) a Professional Engineer’s (PE) License (2) a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or technical field of study (non-ABET) plus an advanced degree in Electrical Engineering from a university with an ABET accredited Bachelor’s program.
• Minimum 0-5 years engineering work experience is required.
• Demonstrated experience in effectively working and communicating across functional boundaries and providing total customer satisfaction.
• Able to identify and implement effective restoration processes and procedures.
• Self-motivated and a self-starter, customer focused, results oriented and a team player.
• Effective written and oral communication skills.
• Able to analyze data, write technical reports, develop work packages to implement recommendations and the ability to handle multiple assignments.
• Able to provide storm restoration support and hazard dispatching duties during storm restoration efforts.
• Able to apply technical skills to solve practical problems and develop and provide technical information to support the Regional Dispatching Office to ensure safe and efficient operation of the electrical system.
• Willing to travel throughout the service territory, and willing to work extra and/or irregular hours.

Nice To Haves

• Successful completion of the Fundamentals of Engineering exam considered a plus.
• Experience and knowledge of electrical systems, operations, and maintenance practices, switching and tagging, computer systems, work management and electrical controls are desired.
• Relay control work experience is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Working safely in accordance with the Company’s Accident Prevention Handbook.
• Investigating and developing planning studies to recommend and drive the necessary distribution system expansions and modifications to maintain reliable electrical infrastructure that meets present and future electrical needs.
• Demonstrating proficiency in the use of engineering analysis software to model the distribution system, calculate voltage drop and fault currents of circuits, and perform distribution switching and protection studies.
• Preparing budget estimates and schedules for system reinforcement projects.
• Supporting operations and maintenance by performing switching studies and preparing settings for mobile substation installations as needed.
• Performing protective device coordination studies for substation transformers and circuit breakers along with circuit protection (fuses and reclosers) as needed.
• Understanding and recommending settings for various regulator and capacitor controls.
• Designing and supporting the installation of distributed control systems including radio controls for line switches and reclosers as well as loop line sectionalizing schemes.
• Preparing protection specifications for new capital projects and system upgrades.
• Performing long-term, area-wide planning studies using applicable distribution system analysis software and preparing load study reports that detail the study findings and recommendations.
• Performing capacity studies for customer new load requests and preparing load study reports that detail the study findings and recommendations.
• Performing power quality studies as needed.
• Performing technical reviews and interconnection studies for customer distributed generation applications.
• Supporting operations with real-time system monitoring and operating/switching studies during peak load periods and system emergencies.
• Performing outage analysis, including analysis of circuit lockouts, in support of the Company's reliability initiatives.
• Completing Customer Experiencing Multiple Interruptions (CEMI) and Worst Performing Circuit (WPC) analysis and recommend reliability improvements.
• Investigating and responding to customer reliability inquiries received through regulatory agencies, Company officers and/or Company processes.
• Providing field and equipment commissioning support to technicians and other operating personnel as needed.
• Supporting the Met-Ed storm process as needed, either as a hazard dispatcher, storm analyst or line shop analyst.
• May be assigned special projects as business needs require.

Benefits

• competitive pay plus incentive compensation
• a company-sponsored pension plan
• 401(k) savings plan with matching employer contribution
• a choice of medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, and life insurance programs
• skills development training with tuition reimbursement

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level