Electrical Engineer - Substations

Overview

Design and engineer high‑voltage substation projects, including protection, SCADA, and construction support.

Key Responsibilities

• protective relaying
• substation design
• high‑voltage design
• design review
• project coordination
• technical consultation

Tasks

-Facilitate, assist, and shepherd the project design team members through completion of the project design, collaborate with other design groups for non-electrical design elements; work with BPA’s Drawing Distribution to ensure all drawings, designs, and documentation are distributed for Construction. -Provide background information, technical input, and recommendations that facilitate project decision-making. This may include, at management request, arranging, attending, and facilitating decision-making sessions/meetings with BPA management, executives, and key stakeholders, including drafting agendas, answering technical questions, and presenting information, options, and recommendations for decision-maker consideration. -Review the project SharePoint site to verify complete and accurate documentation; escalate concerns with missing or inaccurate site or data as per procedure. This includes verifying the Project Requirement Diagrams (PRDs) and necessary planning information is considered when developing the project designs and specifications. -Coordinates and provides consultation on the application of BPA and industry standards in procurement and application of protection systems and equipment. -Provides expert consultation for all technical aspects of protective relaying schemes. Investigates and analyzes problems associated with complex applications of protection systems and equipment. -Negotiates technical requirements and commitments with team members and other stakeholders. -Provides recommendations for the development and interpretation of engineering policies, design standards, technical requirements, application policies, and installation procedures for systems and equipment used in protective relaying systems. -Coordinate with BPA internal and external technicians to facilitate the completion and issuance of designs on schedule. -Receive and review preliminary project documentation, such as the Concept Design Document (CDD), the Asset Plan Item (API) document, and other associated documents; validate Bundle ID’s; and obtain project Work Orders (WOs) as appropriate per established processes. -Arrange, coordinate, and attend site visit(s) for the projects as assigned by the TEEC Supervisor. -Complete and facilitate technical design efforts for high voltage (69kV-500kV) substation projects including new greenfield substations, bay additions, bay modifications, transmission line re-terminations, bus replacements and re-routes, and high voltage equipment replacements. -Create / draft routine project documents, presentations, and communication, including meeting agendas, meeting notes, status reports, corrective action / issue / risk obstacles and mitigation recommendations, procedurally required project documentation, specifications and requirements, etc.; timely distribution of project communications and meeting notes; and project status reports and presentations as requested. -Provide technical direction for Technicians drafting each project design in the Engineering Support group. -Leads the design efforts for protective relaying schemes, other control and protection systems, and associated electrical facilities. -Facilitate planning, engineering, and design efforts for installation of substation equipment and other electrical systems in BPA substations. -Provides guidance for standards and specifications for protective relaying schemes and other control and protection systems. -Create technical electrical designs and standards for substation projects such as reactor groups, capacitor groups, station service overhauls, power transformer replacements, power circuit breaker replacements, fiber optic cabling, motor operated disconnects, SER, SCADA, relaying, metering, DFRs and RAS. -Review, check, and design electrical drawings for new substations (69kV-500kV) and recommend changes and additions to existing substations and other electrical facilities. -Provide recommendations to the assigned PM, PE, and project team regarding project expectations, approach, schedule, scope, work plans, step plans, deliverables, and goals, etc. -Provide professional engineering expertise in the design of protective relay schemes. -Provide input and recommendations for engineering requirements and technical design parameters in the development of substation equipment and facilities, while verifying they meet all functional, operational, maintenance, reliability, and safety requirements. -Create, revise, enhance and review engineering standards to support substation design and engineering. -Review, check, and design electrical drawings for new substations below 69kV and recommend changes and additions to existing substations and other electrical facilities. -Provide professional engineering expertise in the design of SCADA/metering schemes, RAS schemes, and high voltage outdoor designs. -Serve as engineering technical liaison during construction phase to help resolve any differences between construction and design teams; provides engineering technical review abilities during construction, in conjunction with the construction manager. -Conduct Station Service system analyses and conduct short circuit or Arc Flash studies. -Meet, collaborate, communicate, and work closely with the assigned Project Engineer (PE) as needed. -Develop technical requirements and design parameters for BPA substation facilities and ensure these systems satisfy all functional, operational, maintenance, constructability, reliability, and safety requirements, and meet customer or end-user needs. -Leads the development and interpretation of engineering policies, design standards, technical requirements, application policies, and installation procedures for systems and equipment used in substation designs. -Obtain substation access permissions to visit existing BPA substations and proposed substation sites while unescorted (voltages in substations can range from 120 volts to 500,000 volts) to verify design prints, meet with electricians or for on-site coordination and other construction meetings. -Perform print verification and project planning in BPA energized substations, including the examination of open cabinets in substations, while verifying that the minimum approach distance for the appropriate voltage is always adhered to. -Make recommendations on the application of the National Electrical Code, the National Electrical Safety Code, and North American Electric Reliability Corporation critical infrastructure protection (NERC CIP) to substation work and other related projects. -Coordinate and facilitate planning and organization of substation design projects including troubleshooting design problems, resolving problems, and recommending appropriate design methods. -Arrange, coordinate, and facilitate multiple meetings necessary to accomplish the work. -Serve as protection engineer for complex protective relaying projects and for the protective relaying portions of major substation projects. -Collaborate with applicable Project Manager to set the design due date. Should design schedule slip, alert the Project Manager, and review / revise the design due date. Obtain all appropriate approvals prior to adding scope changes to the project’s design effort. -Serve as an Electrical Design Engineer on multiple BPA manager-assigned projects in collaboration with Technical Engineering Leads, Project Management, the Project Engineering Team (PE), high voltage Engineers, and other Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) or representatives across BPA, providing expert electrical design engineering guidance to include: -Perform print verification and project planning in BPA energized substations, including the examination of open cabinets in substations, while ensuring that the minimum approach distance for the appropriate voltage is always adhered to.

Requirements

• 5+ years
• engineering design
• high voltage
• system control
• relay planning
• electrical engineering

What You Bring

-5+ years of experience in engineering design development related to electrical substation projects. -3 years working knowledge of High voltage systems, System Control, Communications, Relay planning, functional and technical specifications in a typical electric power system. This shall include experience on electrical substation projects for new substations, capacity additions, line/position extensions, reliability/automation improvements, equipment relocations/replacements, maintenance, and as-built documentation. -Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering or a closely related field.

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Benefits

-Medical, dental & vision -Health Spending Account (HSA) -Short and long-term disability -Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital -Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave) -401(k) Retirement Plan – Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available -Employee Assistance Program -Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents) -Transportation benefits

About Actalent

-Born in July 2021 by merging Aerotek’s engineering & sciences arm with EASi, Actalent emerged as a focused engineering-and-science partner. -Backed by Allegis Group, it drives scale and speed to market via contract, managed, and technical services. -Headquartered in Maryland with global reach, it deploys specialized teams across North America, Europe, and APAC on Fortune 500 projects. -Typical engagements span EV design, vaccine development, lab services, clinical research, and infrastructure systems. -Expertise covers a wide spectrum: aerospace, defense, healthcare, manufacturing, software systems, environmental and civil engineering.

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