Senior Resource Planning Analyst

Xcel Energy•Denver, CO

9d•Onsite

About The Position

This modeling-focused team is responsible for model development, innovation, testing, and integration with the enterprise data fabric. The team is composed of technical experts in economics, engineering, and mathematics. We are seeking subject matter experts with experience in capacity expansion and production cost analysis, nodal analysis, regional transmission analysis, reliability studies, or operations research related to the electric utility industry. Position Summary Model, analyze, and develop resource expansion plans to meet electric system growth requirements for the Xcel operating utility companies. Prepare and perform generation expansion modeling studies. Provide project management for resource solicitations and resource plan development, which requires developing recommendations based on extensive modeling and analysis by an analytical team including outside consultants. Prepare extensive reports for regulators. Present and defend recommendations to senior management. Testify in administrative hearings. Investigate and develop quantitative techniques to improve analytical processes. Be a resource to Resource Planning Analysts. Be the generation planning expert for one of the larger Xcel Energy utilities. Accept responsibility for the most difficult analytical efforts required in the department.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in engineering, mathematics, economics or quantitative analysis.
At least eight years utility experience in work functions such as plant engineering or operations, forecasting, rates, load research, or similar function that provides candidate with understanding of generation planning and system modeling techniques.
At least three years modeling experience with expansion or production simulation models.
Extensive system knowledge of at least one of the larger Xcel Energy utilities.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or higher preferred.
Experience in operations research and optimization tools such as Gurobi or similar solvers; nodal analysis tools such as PROMOD or similar platforms; or electric and natural gas markets and price forecasting.
Strong proficiency in Excel and Python.

Responsibilities

Through extensive modeling and other quantitative techniques, develop comprehensive plans to obtain or add new capacity and energy resources (e.g. new generation plants) in the most cost-effective manner. Such plans and processes must be developed for each company and state, within resource planning / acquisition rules that govern the expansion of the system / addition of new generation and/or purchased power resources.
Project manage development of these resource plans for larger Xcel Energy operating utilities. Lead team in preparing and performing the modeling studies required to discover the optimal portfolio of generation resources to meet customer energy and peak demand. Such teams are often span 20-30 people across departments are including outside consultants.
Recommend plan to senior officers. These recommendations often lead to decisions valued in excess of $1 billion dollars, undergo intense public scrutiny and cost $.5 to 2 million to develop.
Interface with regulators, interveners, including political and special interest groups, customers, and power suppliers to obtain consensus, support, and/or regulatory approval of optimal resource plans. This includes writing testimony, testifying in administrative hearings, negotiating settlement agreements, presenting plans. It also included gaining acceptance of plans from executive management, regulators and external groups.
Prepare and perform expansion and production cost economic modeling of alternative supply plans and resources to develop optimal supply-demand portfolios for each Xcel Energy operating utility, incorporating consideration of various risks (e.g. fuel prices, electric market prices, reliability criteria, environmental requirements, technology development scenarios, etc.).
Develop new quantitative processes to analyze risk issues.
Interface and work with Forecasting, Risk Management, Trading, Gas Supply, Coal Supply, Transmission Operations, Regulatory Services, Retail and other Xcel groups to incorporate short-term and long-range considerations into the resource plans, including transmission constraints, growth forecasts, demand side management forecasts, fuel and electricity market price risks, etc.
In conjunction with Risk Management, ensure that the expansion plan and production cost modeling of the utility power systems is accurate and current in terms of fuel costs, production capability (heat rates, capacity, starting and variable operating cost, etc.), contract terms (scheduling flexibility, constraints, availability, etc.).
Be an expert resource for at least one of the Xcel Energy utilities. This includes familiarity with all generation and contracts for the utility, with the load and capability tables of the utility, rules and regulations of the states in which the utility operates. It also includes having a network of contacts to gather system information.
Project manage resource solicitation processes including developing the proposal, overseeing the evaluations conducted by a team of analysts and outside consultants, assuring the process was fair to all parties, recommending and defending winning offers to senior management and defending evaluation processes and recommendations in public and regulatory forums. These solicitations often involve decisions costing in excess of a billion dollars and expenditure of $500,000 to $2,000,000 to conduct the solicitation and selection process.
Be a resource for less experienced planning analysts in the areas of modeling, problem analysis, regulatory strategy and system knowledge.