Senior Engineer, Resource Adequacy Assessment

# Our Company

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) is a not-for-profit international regulatory authority whose mission is to assure the effective and efficient reduction of risks to the reliability and security of the grid. NERC develops and enforces Reliability Standards; annually assesses seasonal and long‐term reliability; monitors the bulk power system through system awareness; and educates, trains, and certifies industry personnel. NERC’s area of responsibility spans the continental United States, Canada, and the northern portion of Baja California, Mexico. NERC is the Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) for North America, subject to oversight by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and provincial authorities in Canada. NERC’s jurisdiction includes users, owners, and operators of the bulk power system, which serves nearly 400 million people.

# Our Mission

The vision for the ERO Enterprise, which is comprised of NERC and the six Regional Entities, is a highly reliable and secure North American bulk power system. Our mission is to assure the effective and efficient reduction of risks to the reliability and security of the grid.

# Your Impact

The Senior Engineer, Resource Adequacy Assessment applies industry experience and subject-matter expertise to support the ERO’s efforts to independently assess and report on the overall reliability, adequacy, and associated risks to the interconnected North American bulk power system. This role will use state-of-the-art resource adequacy tools and methods to assist in the production of high-quality summer, winter, and long-term reliability assessments that convey timely, accurate, concise, and impactful messages to our stakeholders. The leader in this position will provide technical analysis and support process engineering in development and publication of NERC’s reliability assessment reports, including the Long-Term Reliability Assessment, seasonal assessments, the State of Reliability report, and special assessments.

The Senior Engineer, Resource Adequacy Assessment reports to the Manager, Reliability Assessments or Manager, Transmission Assessment, depending on the candidate’s experience.

# Your Role

- Perform resource adequacy studies using PowerGEM SERVM or Plexos and other state-of-the-art methods and analyze results to identify future periods of electricity supply shortfall risk, including fuel supply risks.

- Build resource adequacy analysis models by incorporating appropriate assumptions for factors including demand, resources, imports, storage, demand response, and outages and focusing on key reliability risk periods, such as extreme weather.

- Provide technical analysis to ensure accuracy of data analysis and results contained within power system reliability assessment reports and products.

- Perform analysis of existing and planned generation and transmission to understand risks to bulk power system reliability on a range of geographic scales, up to the interconnection level.

- Develop, prepare, and write white papers and assessment reports (long-term, seasonal, and special reliability assessments) using project management principles.

- Provide key reliability trend information to technical committees and stakeholders and advocate for solutions to maintain bulk power system reliability, drawing on power system performance metrics (such as loss-of-load expectation, expected unserved energy, and effective load-carrying capability), probabilistic planning models, and risk analyses.

- Interface with Regional Entities, government agencies, and regulators to review data and information and coordinate activities to address reliability issues.

- Establish and maintain relationships with industry, regulatory, and governmental organizations involved with electric system reliability (e.g., DOE, FERC, EIA, RTO/ISOs, IEEE).

- Identify, analyze, and project trends in electric customer demand, supply, and transmission and their impacts on bulk power system reliability and support the posting on the NERC website.

- Proactively identify and suggest solutions to technical analysis and data problems.

- Train and support team members in using SERVM or other tools and in performing resource adequacy studies.

- Support internal coordination with the Performance Analysis, Event Analysis, Engineering, Standards, and Compliance teams, as needed.

- Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

The successful candidate will have at a minimum:

- BS in engineering (BSEE/power preferred). Candidates with a non-engineering degree but with strong experience can be considered for a similar position as an analyst.

- Five or more years of experience in resource planning, transmission system planning, or another application of electric power system analysis and proficiency with SERVM or Plexos or similar tools.

- Exceptional interpersonal and communications skills, both oral and written.

- Strong statistical, analytical, critical thinking skills.

- Excellent writing and speaking skills. Exceptional communication skills are required.

- Strong leadership, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to interact effectively with people from many levels of industry and government.

- Ability to facilitate groups of industry technical experts and to work effectively and closely with peers in a teamwork environment.

- Strong organizational skills.

- Self-starter with solid integrity and ability to provide leadership and vision.

- Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications.

Preferred candidates will also have:

- Experience preparing regional and/or multiregional bulk power system reliability and adequacy assessments.

- Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word).

- Experience in NERC Reliability Standards, ERO functions, or other industry regulatory roles.

Other

- A background check will be conducted prior to employment.

- In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification document form upon hire.

- This position has been classified as exempt.

- The position may be based remotely but must be able to travel to NERC offices if needed. Reimbursement of travel expenses will be in accordance with the company’s travel and expense reimbursement policies.

- Travel is necessary several times a year.

Our Culture Declarations

- Everyone at NERC is a leader.

- We are accountable personally and organizationally to deliver on commitments.

- We develop ourselves and people in the organization to ensure that NERC realizes its strategic objectives.

- We are resilient and adaptable to the challenges and needs of the business/people.

- We exude a growth mindset and empower teams to take risks.

- We build collaborative relationships within NERC, the ERO, and the stakeholders of NERC.

- We exemplify NERC cultural behaviors:

- We reward high-quality, creative, and innovative work.

- We attract, engage, and retain top talent.

- We value and respect diverse perspectives.

- We provide a safe, inclusive, and collaborative work environment.

- We form strong relationships within the company and with the ERO Enterprise.

- We demonstrate curiosity in a wide variety of areas and are open to exploring new situations, knowledge, and opportunities for growth and development.

- We demonstrate an anticipatory mindset by preventing problems and building contingencies where appropriate.

- We champion diversity and inclusion by seeking out and valuing diverse perspectives.