Relay Technician

Cleco Power•Pineville, LA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Relay Technician II is an experienced technician with knowledge and experience in the maintenance, testing, and repair of protection systems in Transmission, Distribution, and electrical power substations. This position involves installing, maintaining, and troubleshooting control circuits to circuit breakers, Potential Transformers (PTs), Capacitor Coupled Voltage Transformers (CCVTs), and other equipment. It also includes replacing wires, testing different components, and calibrating generators. The role is responsible for ensuring electricity is routed through the substation at the correct voltage on its way to residential or commercial areas. The technician is expected to proactively identify and address hazardous conditions. Key Responsibilities include championing a corporate culture of transparency, integrity, safety, environmental responsibility, employee development, diversity and inclusion, customer service, and operational excellence. The role involves maintaining, diagnosing, and correcting problems with protective relays, substations, control circuits, supervisory controls, and battery systems in distribution, transmission, and generation facilities. Responsibilities also include constructing, installing, and maintaining auto-transfer schemes in distribution systems, and performing the installation, wiring, and checkout of all protective relaying and associated control systems. The technician will perform periodic testing and functional operation of protection systems in accordance with NERC mandates, and maintain relay carrier equipment such as wavetraps and line tuners. Diagnosing and correcting problems in equipment like power circuit breakers, transformers, and fault/disturbance recorders without disrupting the regional power grid is also a key function. The role includes installing and maintaining battery systems and chargers, as well as installing, maintaining, and troubleshooting PLC-based and solid-state transfer switches and sectionalizing switch automatic controls and their associated motor operators. Training field personnel on the operation and testing of these devices is required. Maintaining the SAP Equipment Maintenance database for accurate historical records of transmission equipment is essential. The technician will develop relay testing programs, DSCADA programs, carrier system programs, transmission and SCADA programs, and PLCs for Capacitor Banks, Load Tap Changers (LTCs), and Breaker reclosing. Testing will be performed on SCADA Systems, carrier systems, CCVTs, Transformers, CTs, PTs, wave traps, ATS schemes, power plant SCADA and generation relaying, battery sets, capacitor banks and controls, PLCs, and regulators. The role involves serving as a member of scheduled call-outs to ensure timely restoration of service, connecting test apparatus to troubled circuits, analyzing test results, and interpreting electrical diagrams to locate defective relays. This includes opening and closing switches to isolate defective relays and making adjustments or removing relays for repair. Testing circuits and equipment to evaluate factors like insulation quality that affect relay function, and analyzing test data to determine relay performance characteristics and the effect of system modifications are also part of the job. Assisting entry-level staff by leveraging technical experience for onboarding and milestone achievement is expected. The technician will supervise contractors in substation construction and assist engineering with design. Communication with supervisors regarding work status, risks, and resourcing needs is required. The role involves operating as the experienced technical staff member among Relay Technicians to execute defined objectives, milestones, and priorities according to established plans and supervisor guidance. Problem-solving will involve using existing procedures for routine issues and analyzing information and standard practices for judgments.

Requirements

High School Diploma or equivalent
Two years vocational or technical training in Electrical Technology or related field preferred.
3-5+ years of related experience
Strong business acumen pertaining to the Utility industry
Strong knowledge of leading practices in transmission relay
Strong planning and project management skills
Willingness and ability to learn new technologies on the job
Certified forklift operator required within 6 months of employment

Nice To Haves

Step progression levels based on skill proficiency and scope of job.

Responsibilities

Maintaining, diagnosing, and correcting problems to all protective relays, substations, control circuits, supervisory controls, and battery systems in distribution, transmission and generation facilities.
Constructing, installing and maintaining auto-transfer schemes in distribution system.
Performing the installation, wiring and checkout of all protective relaying and associated control systems in transmission, distribution and generation stations.
Performing periodic testing and functional operation of protection systems in accordance with North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) mandate.
Maintaining relay carrier equipment such as wavetraps and line tuners.
Diagnosing and correcting problems in equipment such as power circuit breakers, transformers, and fault/disturbance recorders.
Installing and maintaining battery systems and chargers in transmission substations.
Installing, maintaining, and troubleshooting both Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)-based and solid state transfer switches and sectionalizing switch automatic controls as well as the associated motor operators.
Training field personnel in the proper operation and testing of these devices.
Maintaining SAP Equipment Maintenance database used for keeping accurate and concise historical records of transmission equipment.
Develop relay testing programs, Distribution Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (DSCADA) programs, carrier system programs, transmission and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) programs, and PLCs which controls Capacitor Banks, Load Tap Changers (LTCs), and Breaker reclosing.
Performing testing on SCADA Systems, carrier systems, CCVTs, Transformers, Current Transformers (CTs), PTs, wave traps, Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) schemes, power plant SCADA and generation relaying, battery sets, capacitor banks and controls, PLCs, and regulators.
Serving as a member of scheduled call-out to ensure timely restoration of service.
Connecting test apparatus to troubled circuit.
Analyzing test results and interpreting electrical diagrams to locate defective relay.
Opening and closing switches to isolate defective relay and makes adjustments or removes relay for repair.
Testing circuit and equipment to evaluate such factors as insulation quality, which affect function of relays.
Analyzing test data to determine performance characteristics of relays and effect of system modifications on relay performance.
Assisting entry-level staff, leveraging technical experience to help to onboard them and in support of meeting milestones.
Supervising contractors in construction of substations and assisting engineering with design.
Providing communication to supervisor to provide status updates on work, and identify risks in delivery or resourcing needs.
Operating as the experienced technical staff member amongst the Relay Technicians to execute through defined objectives, milestones and priorities in the short-term according to established plans and supervisor guidance.
Using existing procedures to solve routine or standard problems, analyzing information and standard practices to make judgments.