Power System Engineer

City of Austin•Austin, TX

19h•$91,080 - $117,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Under minimal supervision designs, and assists in the design of electric utility system facilities, including: generation, electric substations, overhead and underground transmission and distribution lines, network systems, protection systems, supervisory control systems (SCADA), market operation and settlement systems, street lighting, and other electric system facilities. This position exists only in the Power Production and Electrical Services Delivery department of Austin Energy.

Requirements

Graduation with a Bachelors degree from an accredited college or university with major coursework in Engineering, plus five (5) years of experience related to engineering.
Knowledge of engineering design principles applicable to electric utility operations such as, generation, transmission, distribution, market operations and other related fields.
Knowledge of advanced mathematical techniques such as trigonometry, calculus, and coordinate geometry.
Knowledge of engineering standards, codes, practices, procedures, materials, and equipment used in the design, construction, and operation of the electric utility systems.
Knowledge of established engineering principles and methods.
Knowledge of preparation of cost estimates and engineering and feasibility reports.
Ability to perform more complex engineering calculations and to analyze engineering problems.
Knowledge of regulatory requirements within the local and state ordinances and laws.
Skill in oral and written technical and/or general communication including preparation of written reports.
Skill in negotiations and handling conflict resolution.
Knowledge of City of Austin purchasing and contract policies and procedures.

Nice To Haves

Experience working within industrial environment
Experience working with rotating industrial equipment
Vibration Analysis 1 course completion
Certificate Level 1 Infrared Thermographer course completion Certificate

Responsibilities

Prepares standards, equipment specifications, design procedures, test procedures
Performs power system studies such as protective relay coordination, fault studies, load flows, service reliability, power quality, voltage stability, power system market operations and settlement studies, etc.
Prepares engineering design and develops drawings and other documents for generation, transmission, distribution, substations and SCADA/EMS.
Prepares circuit maps, control diagrams, charts, data bases, and plans for different electrical facilities.
Provide assistance to all classes of customers, developers, and to other City Departments on technical matters relevant to electric utility services
Provide technical and financial inputs for projects in electric utility planning and budget process
Investigate and analyze engineering design problems; develop appropriate solutions; draft reports and make presentations
Prepares safety procedures for electric facilities
Assist in efforts to keep up with the latest developments in the utility industry, to meet North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC), Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and Texas Public Utility Commission (TX PUC) standards and regulatory requirements.
Work closely with field personnel to support project energization.
May provide leadership, work assignments, evaluation, training, and guidance to others.
Implement Predictive Maintenance Program tasks for rotating equipment at Austin Energy Decker and SHEC power plants and chilled water plants.
Implement periodic monitoring process of condition of rotating equipment by collecting and analyzing vibration and infrared parameters for energized rotating industrial equipment.
Perform vibration and infrared thermography data collection at rotating industrial electro-mechanical equipment by using different computer and portable handheld vibration and infrared data collectors.
Perform collected vibration and infrared data analysis.
Assess rotating industrial equipment vibration condition and provide AE plants' maintenance and operation crews with recommendations pertaining criticality of vibration issues, expected rotating equipment remaining runtime, and expected equipment maintenance/repair needs based on collected vibration data analysis.
Build new vibration routes for new equipment at Decker, SHEC, and AE chill water plants.
Balance rotating equipment and perform rotating equipment failure root cause analysis and equipment life cycle evaluation.
Provide hands-on support to plant maintenance team to troubleshoot and resolve rotating equipment downtime situations.
Provide recommendations for reducing AE plant rotating equipment vibration level down to the industry acceptable limits.
Conducting equipment failure root cause analysis, prepare technical reports based on findings, recommend corrective actions, perform engineering support for Austin Energy Decker, SHEC power plants and Austin Energy chill water plants as required, perform project management functions as required.