Electrical Engineer 3

Electrical Engineer 3

This contract Electrical Engineer 3 position will provide expertise and high-level technical engineering assistance to the Energy Management Systems (EMS) organization (JDE) at *** (BPA). JDE provides life-cycle support for Energy Management Systems (EMS) used in support of BPA's control centers. This includes engineering, design, operations, maintenance, and technical leadership for systems such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), Automatic Generation Control (AGC), on-line power flow and state estimation systems, and the dispatcher training environments which simulate the power grid. This position will provide support for the operations and maintenance of BPA's Dispatch Training Facility (DTF) systems, including the training simulator and interconnected EMS clone systems. This position will perform EMS Habitat system database updates, provide customer coordination, modify and execute BPA management approved vendor and custom software, maintain quality documentation, and provide recommendations and technical input to enable BPA and the organization to meet federal, regional and BPA cyber security compliance requirements. The work of this position will also include applicable cyber security functions and supplemental project support as listed in Position Responsibilities below.

Organization Operational Technology Services (J-OT) provides technology management oversight and leadership to enable Transmission Services to carry out BPA's mission and achieve strategic business objectives. Application Services (JD) is responsible for the planning, analysis, design, engineering, delivery, and maintenance support of systems used to provide safe and reliable real-time control, dispatch, analysis, management, and protection of the management system. JDE provides life-cycle support for Energy Management Systems (EMS) used in support of BPA's control centers. Organizational responsibility also includes verification of applicable cyber security functions (per North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and BPA standards); and supplemental project support.

Assignment Responsibilities

Provide a high level of professional engineering expertise in the integration, customization, maintenance and operation of the Dispatch Training Simulator (DTS) software and interconnected systems used in BPA's Dispatch Training Facility (DTF). Review proposed changes and enhancements to the DTF systems, making critical analyses and evaluation of the capability of the systems and the costs required to implement changes and make recommendations to the BPA manager or Team Lead on whether changes should be implemented. Create / draft event-based scenarios for testing and training. Collaborate with engineers and internal customers to provide technical expertise in discussions on existing or potential engineering projects and products. Perform troubleshooting and provide technical support to internal craft/customer personnel in regards to DTF systems and training simulators Attend project scoping and requirement meetings or design reviews, recommend changes to specification diagrams based on technical and operational issues. Facilitate knowledge transfer to BPA staff on continued operations and maintenance of DTF systems. Operate the DTF systems in coordination with the operation of multiple other computer and database systems and in a manner that is compliant with regulatory standards. Follow Transmission Services established software control standards and procedures, and maintain quality documentation. Study existing failures and electronic problem reports, including those of hardware interfaces, to determine the cause of the problems. As requested, work with hardware staff, dispatchers and other relevant parties to develop / draft and recommend solutions. Draft and make recommendations to the BPA manager and assist in the implementation of BPA management approved software solutions and procedures to recover from malfunctions in order to minimize downtime. Monitor and analyze computer/system performance; design and install BPA management approved software changes; may recommend other process solutions, such as hardware changes, as necessary to improve performance. Draft DTF operational procedures for Dispatch Trainers and Trainees, as requested Provide technical, documentation and modeling assistance in the BPA data modeling environments (currently Stepmodel, ETS, and PSST) as needed for DTF training sessions and testing. Provide technical and documentation assistance in the NEMO (New Ems Modeling Options) projects as requested by the BPA manager or Project Manager. Some TDF required databases are expected to be created in ETS in future releases of the NEMO products. Provide technical assistance and training to BPA internal DTF and Network Systems Operations Center (NSOC) Hardware and Software staff as requested.

Requirements

Education & Corresponding Experience (required on matrix) Bachelor degree in Engineering, preferable Electrical Engineering is required 10 years experience in power system engineering, design and project scoping is required Required Technical Skills & Experience (required on matrix) Knowledge of Alstom e-terraHabitat (version 5.8) and e-terraPlatform (EMP) (version 2.5, 2.6) software sufficient to develop, test and integrate application software in those environments. Ability to use high level programming languages such as FORTRAN and C++, and script sufficiently to create, modify and maintain applications written in these languages. Preferred Skills & Experience (optional on matrix) Energy/utility industry experience Experience with the use and support of EMS software in a power system control center environment, with complex computer interrelationships and network topologies Knowledge of NERC-CIP and FISMA regulatory standards Required to keep abreast of the latest computer industry developments in application development, network, user interface, system software, data acquisition and related computer hardware areas. Ability to analyze data and identify quality assurance/quality control issues, as well as identify failure and/or maintenance trends. Ability to build credibility and trust among key project stakeholders. Strong technical writing skills and the ability to present information in various forms such as textual, graphical and statistical. Demonstrated expertise with logical process modeling concepts sufficient to aid in the documentation and development of business and system requirements. Ability to carry out assigned tasks with a professional demeanor reflected in excellent written and oral communication skills, listening skills, patience, analytical reasoning and problem solving abilities. Additional Requirements (not required on matrix) Valid U.S. Driver's License is required. The Contract Worker in this position may have limited access to ALSTOM Grid licensed software for the limited purpose of maintaining, enhancing or otherwise modifying the software, and any custom applications or modifications developed specifically for BPA. In this capacity, BPA may disclose to the Contract Worker or the Contract Worker's employer, ALSTOM Grid Confidential and/or Proprietary Information. BPA desires to safeguard any such information so designated as "Confidential" or "Proprietary Information" from disclosure to third parties. As such, the Contract Worker in this position may be requested by BPA to sign a Confidentiality Agreement.