Principal Energy Trading Specialist (Deadline Extended)

Sacramento Municipal Utility District • Sacramento, CA

203d • $14,680,640 - $19,443,840 • Remote

About The Position

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) is actively seeking a highly motivated and experienced Supervisor to lead our Day Ahead Trading team. This pivotal leadership position is crucial for steering our efforts in the optimization of energy procurement, scheduling, and market participation, particularly as we advance towards the integration of SMUD into the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM) and achieving SMUD's carbon goals. The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in ensuring we meet our load obligations through the reliable, efficient, and cost-effective procurement and scheduling of wholesale energy. In this role, you will lead a dedicated team of traders and schedulers, directing the development and implementation of sophisticated trading strategies. You will be responsible for ensuring compliance with all applicable regulatory and market requirements, which is paramount in the ever-evolving landscape of energy markets. A significant aspect of this role involves guiding your team through the preparations and transition activities associated with CAISO's EDAM and SMUD's decarbonization goals. This transition will require strategic foresight, meticulous planning, and robust collaboration across various departments to facilitate successful market integration and foster long-term operational prosperity for SMUD. The successful candidate will play an integral role in shaping SMUD's energy procurement strategy at a time when the industry is undergoing profound changes. If you possess comprehensive expertise in power trading and scheduling, exemplary leadership abilities, and a deep understanding of CAISO market intricacies, we encourage you to consider this exceptional opportunity to influence SMUD's future in the energy market landscape.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree majoring in Public or Business Administration/Management, Economics, Computer Information Services, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field from an accredited college or university, or equivalent experience
• At least three (3+) years of total experience as a Senior Energy Trading Specialist gained working in two or more specialty areas, or at least seven (7+) years of equivalent professional work experience in at least two of the relevant specialty areas, or at least seven (7+) years of experience working in a related area such as, but not limited to, Business Resource Planning, System Operations, Energy Risk Management, or the Long-term Contract & Regulatory group on matter related to the relevant specialty area

Nice To Haves

• In-Depth Market Knowledge: Strong understanding of CAISO markets, including Key Day-Ahead Market components, DAME, WEIM, and EDAM, for effective market participation
• Trading and Scheduling Expertise: Experience in bilateral trading and scheduling to enhance operational efficiency and reliability
• Asset Portfolio Familiarity: Knowledge of SMUD's generation portfolio (hydro, thermal, renewable, storage)
• Leadership Skills: Experience leading trading or scheduling teams, focusing on talent development and performance management
• Analytical Skills: Proficiency in market analysis, load and price forecasting, and using trading tools for informed decision-making
• Regulatory Knowledge: Understanding of CAISO tariffs, market rules, and compliance with FERC, NERC, and WECC regulations
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and market readiness efforts across departments, ensuring market integration
• Communication Skills: Strong communication and collaboration skills to convey complex information and foster teamwork
• Adaptability: Proven ability to navigate market shifts, regulatory changes, and organizational transformations successfully

Responsibilities

• Conducts all weather and load forecasting and portfolio optimization processes
• Forecasts customer energy requirements considering historical demands, applicable load shapes, and weather projections
• Performs weather forecast evaluation
• Creates load and generation schedules for the Power System Operator (PSO)
• Runs hourly Portfolio Optimization as market, weather or load conditions deem necessary
• Communicates with the PSO to review planned generation schedules
• Submits resource plans with balanced base schedules at hourly and sub-hourly intervals to CAISO
• Ensures that resources, load, and interchange are balanced for EIM each hour
• Manages hydro reservoir levels and in-flows to ensure economic dispatch of UARP and minimize potential for spill
• Evaluates market conditions, generating plant limitations (hydroelectric and thermal), maintenance, outages, transmission ratings and curtailments, and existing contract provisions
• Identifies resource costs and availability considering existing market conditions, generating plant limitations (hydroelectric, thermal, renewable, battery, etc), maintenance, outages, transmission ratings and curtailments, and existing contract provisions
• Manages resources to meet NERC/WECC Reliability criteria during all operating conditions
• Utilizes various market applications to submit capacity, energy, transmission, and ancillary service bids
• Negotiates purchases and sales of energy, capacity, ancillary services, and the purchase of transmission to meet load and SMUD objectives
• Purchases monthly and hourly transmission
• Works with Scheduling if any scheduling conflicts arise
• Communicates with management and the Real Time Traders for review to provide a summary of the next day position, strategy for generation and available options
• Transacts within SMUD's risk parameters and ethical business practices
• Develops and maintains a good working knowledge of integrated power system operations and WECC, NERC, FERC and CAISO policies, procedures, protocols, and business practices
• Trains co-workers on new trading policies and protocols as they develop
• Conducts economic assessment of current resource options and market opportunities
• Negotiates financial contracts within the confines of the SMUD Trading Guidelines and management directives
• Identifies optimal short-term use of existing power purchase contracts based on market information
• Works with Resource Optimizer to develop shadow price for energy limited resources
• Develops a trading strategy for energy, capacity, transmission, and/or ancillary services
• Evaluates and optimizes the resource preschedule, in real-time, to generation dispatch, capacity needs, energy, transmission and ancillary services purchases and sales
• Performs 'if-then' analysis to develop optimized strategy for the dispatch of generation resources, and to optimize purchases and sales of capacity, energy, transmission, and ancillary services
• Implements SMUD Trading Guidelines and management directives
• Develops and maintains harmonious operations with electric trading partners and other SMUD stakeholders through the use of effective communication practices
• Performs other related duties as needed to include working outside of typical business hours when necessary

Benefits

• 401k
• health_insurance
• dental_insurance
• vision_insurance
• life_insurance
• disability_insurance
• paid_holidays
• paid_volunteer_time
• tuition_reimbursement
• professional_development
• flexible_scheduling
• remote_work

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Industry: Utilities
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree