Power System Optimization Intern - Fall 2026/Spring 2027

WSP•Houston, TX

21h

About The Position

WSP USA is hiring a part-time, temporary Power System Optimization Intern for its Power and Energy Team, based in the Houston, Texas office. The internship is intended for students currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree program and is anticipated to take place during the Fall 2026 / Spring 2026 semesters. Interns gain hands-on experience on real projects, work alongside senior staff, and have access to mentorship and networking through WSP’s Developing Professionals Network. The intern will support power and energy engineering work involving optimization and modeling for generation mixes, renewable energy systems, data centers, and microgrids. Work includes reliability and availability analysis, steady-state and dynamic simulations, system optimization, sensitivity analysis, and techno-economic evaluation. The intern will collaborate with engineering and project management teams and communicate findings through technical documentation, reports, and presentations. No relocation or housing assistance is provided. WSP describes a flexible and agile workplace model and provides employees with benefits including medical, dental, vision, disability, life, and retirement savings coverage. The selected candidate must be authorized to work in the United States.

Requirements

Actively enrolled in an accredited undergraduate Electrical Engineering program, specializing in power and energy systems operation and planning or a related area, with an anticipated graduation date of June 2026 or later.
Must be 18 or older.
Demonstrated interest in Electrical Engineering or a related field and a strong desire to develop skills relevant to WSP’s work and projects.
Interpersonal and communication skills to express ideas effectively and professionally to engineering and non-engineering audiences.
Ability to take direction from leadership, mentors, and managers to execute projects.
Basic proficiency with technical writing, office automation, software, spreadsheets, technology, and tools.
Track record of upholding workplace safety and ability to comply with WSP health, safety, drug/alcohol, and harassment policies.
Authorization to work in the United States at the start of the internship.

Nice To Haves

Currently pursuing a PhD in Electrical Engineering, specializing in power and energy systems operation and planning.
Experience with microgrid operation and planning optimization, system-level reliability and resilience analysis, and battery energy storage applications.
Proficiency in Python for programming, numerical modeling, and data processing.
Experience with renewable energy integration, load flow analysis, power quality, and grid-tied inverter systems.
Experience with system dispatch modeling and revenue optimization of battery energy storage systems in ISOs such as ERCOT, CAISO, and PJM.
Knowledge of optimization problems such as LP, MILP, and NLP, and solvers such as Gurobi, IPOPT, and GLPK; familiarity with AI/ML applications in power and energy systems.
Record of technical publications or presentations in energy systems operation, optimization, or planning.
Experience with power systems software tools such as PSSE and PSCAD for data center applications.

Responsibilities

Support engineering tasks to develop technical, social, and ethical skills.
Develop and validate optimization models for generation mixes, including solar PV, wind, battery storage, fuel cells, hybrid microgrids, and data centers.
Conduct power systems modeling for data centers, including UPS systems, generator integration, redundancy configurations (such as N, N+1, and 2N), and failure mode analysis.
Perform reliability and availability modeling (RAM) analysis for data center microgrids.
Perform steady-state and dynamic simulations, system-level optimization, sensitivity analysis, and techno-economic evaluation of renewable and mission-critical power systems.
Evaluate energy infrastructure integration in grid-connected and islanded modes for utility and data center applications.
Collaborate with cross-disciplinary engineering and project management teams.
Communicate technical results through documentation, reports, and stakeholder presentations.
Support white papers and strategic energy systems operation and planning efforts.
Complete training on assigned tasks.
Make responsible and ethical decisions regarding company funds, resources, and conduct, and comply with WSP’s Code of Conduct and related policies and procedures.
Perform additional responsibilities as required by business needs.