Senior Owner's Engineer, Wind

AES•Salt Lake City, UT

20h•$108,000 - $135,150•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Owner’s Engineer supports the development, construction, and financing of large-scale renewable energy projects by representing AES Clean Energy with financing parties, investors, lenders and Independent Engineers. The Senior Owner’s Engineer becomes a member of a cross-functional engineering team and ensures that projects in development meet standards agreed to internally and with financing parties and updates those standards to meet industry best practices. Strong communication and project management skills are required to manage the internal and external engineering resources needed to collect documentation, provide answers to due diligence questions, and ensure that projects meet quality and reliability expectations. The Senior Owner’s Engineer will be responsible for the technical documentation, required site visits, and Independent Engineering due diligence reports primarily for wind energy generation facilities up to 1000 MW in capacity, plus opportunities to work on solar photovoltaic and battery energy storage projects, based on experience and interests. The successful candidate will have a depth of experience in the design, engineering and analysis of wind energy systems with transmission-level interconnections as well as an in-depth understanding of the architectures and components to build such systems. Experience in all phases of energy project development is expected, from development to operations. The position may be remote or be based in Salt Lake City, UT, or Louisville, CO, and may include up to 20% travel to project locations and partner offices.

Requirements

Undergraduate degree in Engineering or equivalent technical field
5+ years professional experience in wind turbine project design, development, and construction
Experience with wind project construction, quality control activities and investor site visits
Experience with debt or tax equity financing practices, terminology, and requirements
Strong technical writing skills, with the ability to communicate complex technical topics to a non-engineering audience
Project and case management skills including a strong aptitude for managing and prioritizing multiple projects and deadlines
Comfort with NEC and NESC code, as well as related codes such as IBC, NFPA 855

Nice To Haves

Graduate degree in Engineering
Professional Engineer qualification
WTG Climb Training and Safety certification
OSHA 10-hr or comparable job-site safety certification

Responsibilities

Owner Representation - Represent AES Clean Energy on wind, solar, energy storage projects while supporting overall project finance and engineering efforts
Promote Safety - Promote safety for all projects throughout the team and while onsite
Development Support - Provide support to Origination, Procurement, Development and M&A teams for new and upcoming projects
Contract drafting and editing around technical requirements
Production Estimation and Site Suitability Evaluation - Review production estimates from Independent Engineering (IE) firms for completeness and validity. A thorough understanding of site suitability considerations for wind turbines is required
Project Engineering Support - Work with AES CE project teams to ensure quality projects are installed and maintained throughout the portfolio.
Plan Review - Review engineering plans and related technical documentation for comment and approval
Construction QA/QC - Work with construction teams to ensure that all technical and bank/Independent Engineering requirements are met for project finance and that projects meet AES CE standards
Independent Engineer Review - Collect, organize, review, distribute Engineering and Construction related deliverables to Independent Engineering firms for their review, comment and approval
Operating Facilities Support - Support AES CE’s operating facilities for better efficiencies and operational performance
RCA - Participate in Root-Cause-Analysis efforts for failed equipment encountered during construction and operation as needed
Structured Finance Support - Work integrally with AES CE internal Structured Finance team and Independent Engineering firms on technical due diligence for project financing (Tax Equity, Construction Debt Finance)
IE Selection – Assist in selection of IE’s to confirm capabilities and scope of services.
Report Development & Review – Review the IE report drafts, construction site visit reports, and construction supplement reports in conjunction with structured finance to ensure completeness and accuracy.
Coordinate and Attend Site Visits – Coordinate directly with the IE and onsite personnel to perform construction site visits with EPC’s, Independent Engineers, and investors/financiers throughout the project build-cycle and around key project Completion Milestones. Wind turbine climb training certification a plus, or the desire to become certified and support wind turbine inspections in support of project financing milestones.
Manage timelines – The Owner’s engineering team member will support multiple projects concurrently and maintain a schedule of IE report issuances to ensure the IE is on track to deliver reports that meet AES financing objectives.
Diligence – the Owner’s engineer will work collaboratively to provide responses to diligence questions from the IE and investors on engineering related items (e.g. designs, commissioning tests, reports, equipment inspections) and provide support on responses for diligence questions on other items not related to engineering (permitting, IC, equipment contracts, etc.).
Risk Statement resolution - Identify statements of risk in reports and work with project engineers and broader team to resolve or mitigate.
Coordination with Project Engineers - Coordinate bring-downs of production estimates based on IE feedback.
Model Assumptions/Finance Initiatives – Lead engineering modeling initiatives that relate to the financial model (e.g. WTG inspection costs and long-term O&M costs, auxiliary turbine consumption)
Certificates – coordinate with legal team and IE on form of MC certificates, PIS certificates, SC certificates, and reliance letters. Coordinate with the IE in obtaining the executed copies of such certificates.