Principal Power Plant Engineer

Iberdrola•Klamath Falls, OR

10d•$152,000 - $160,400•Onsite

About The Position

The Klamath Cogeneration Project is a 500 MW state-of-the-art gas-fired combined cycle cogeneration facility and a 100 MW Peaking Facility adjacent to the City of Klamath Falls, Oregon. These facilities operate as a flexible dispatch combined cycle merchant plant and a fast start peaking plant supplying power to California and the Pacific Northwest, as well as steam to the adjacent Collins Products manufacturing facility.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering is required.
Minimum 3 years management experience in power generation or related field required.
Experience in power plant combined cycle operations is required.
Management skills including the ability to manage multiple projects and priorities, implement mission-critical programs, set expectations for and follow up with staff, recommend and oversee improvement of plant specific processes and systems.
Ability to perform and coordinate root cause analysis of plant/equipment problems and to implement corrective action, in a timely, safe and cost-effective manner.
Experienced in contract management and administration.
Ability to fulfill all customer expectations in an economical manner.
Ability to solicit and utilize 360° input, get buy-in, and, at times, be able to make decisions alone with the commensurate degree of urgency while maintaining an overall sense of ownership and teamwork within the organization. This includes being in the "Manager-on-call" rotation.
Decisions regularly affect the achievement of plant objectives, efficiency, morale, and financial performance.
Possess a high level of system and integrated process knowledge of power generation equipment.

Nice To Haves

Minimum 7 years power plant experience, 10 or more years is preferred.
10 years power plant experience.
Computerized maintenance management systems.
Plant and turbine distributed control systems.
Boiler and Cooling Tower water chemistry.
Environmental Permits, regulations and compliance reporting.
Microsoft Office programs (Excel, Word, Access, Outlook).
Ability to foster and participate in a productive team environment by establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with co-workers, managers, customers, contractors, and vendors.
Ability to analyze project risks and proactively identify solutions with a flexible, creative, and solution-focused outlook on problem solving.
Maintains effectiveness during procedural/organizational changes and when dealing with varying personality styles and tasks.
Effectively provides and receives information orally in individual and group situations. Written expression is clear, concise, and conveys the desired message.
Ability to navigate and succeed in a highly matrixed reporting structure, preferably at an international company.

Responsibilities

Day-to-day operations management of the facility in a safe, environmentally compliant, and fuel-efficient manner.
Recruiting, testing, training, development and direct supervision of approximately 10 multi-skilled plant operations technicians.
Coordinates with Asset Management and Trading staff in Portland and Plant O&M staff in Klamath to implement daily and/or hourly production targets, and ensure these targets are achieved in a safe and environmentally compliant manner.
Ensures a continuous supply of steam is safely delivered to host Collins in the most economical method practicable.
Has a leadership role in plant safety program and at times participates in knowledge sharing with other operational groups such as the wind and gas storage businesses.
Ensures the plant-wide computerized maintenance management system is utilized by plant operations.
Coordinates plant staff, outside contractors and OEM's to minimize O&M costs and optimize plant availability and reliability.
Responsible for operations coordination of scheduled and unscheduled outages.
Assists in the planning and execution of the operations portion of the facility O&M budget and provides input to the plant maintenance budget.
Responsible for the monitoring of facility heat rate, operating performance of plant equipment, and taking action when necessary to optimize overall facility performance.
Responsible for identification and cost-benefit analyses of plant betterment projects that improve plant efficiency, reduce O & M costs, or both.
Provide input for modifications and alterations that are required to conform to new or unique demands by corporate, plant requirements or regulatory agencies.
Assist in the addition or modification of computer controls to improve operational functionality of the facility.
Plans, manages and executes the design, engineering, procurement and construction of new projects.
Takes manager on call duties on a rotating basis.
Perform as team leader and be responsible for the safe and proper operation of the plant. Some duties include: work order oversight, coordination of maintenance activity, efficient operation of the plant, maintaining proper water chemistry and supervising Operations Technicians.
Responsible for the operations activities for environmental permit compliance.
Continually evaluate and prioritize plant conditions (steady- state, transient, & upset) and act to control, contain, and restore plant operations in a safe, appropriate, and environmentally compliant manner.
Monitor and interpret plant emissions and discharges and act to maintain compliance with all applicable laws, permits, provisions and orders.
Responsible for analyzing individual performance of Operations Technicians and providing guidance and feedback.
Develop a fundamental understanding of the merchant power business, and utilize that knowledge in decision-making, suggesting changes, or improvements to the overall plant operation.
Communicate regularly with Avangrid Power energy and asset management representatives, and on-site staff to optimize plant generation and achieve heat rate targets.
Responsible for capturing, analyzing, validating, interpreting and reporting all production data and statistics, both internal and external, as required.
Other duties as required