Associate Protection Engineer

Requisition ID # 140368 

Job Category: Engineering / Science 

Job Level: Individual Contributor

Business Unit: Electric Engineering

Work Type: Hybrid

Job Location: West Sacramento

Department Overview

The Electric Engineering team ensures the delivery of safe and reliable electric service to our customers. Electric Engineering is responsible for every aspect of PG&E's electric distribution and transmission operations, including planning, system protection engineering, maintenance and construction, asset management, business planning, restoration, and emergency response.

System Protection Engineering provides:

• Project and Maintenance &Operations support, specify design, requirements, and testing procedures.
• Review and analysis of power system disturbance and operations.
• Technical consultation and training for System Operation and Planning issues.
• Equipment evaluation, approval, and standard development.

Position Summary

This position is represented by Engineers and Scientists of California (ESC) subject to collective bargaining.

In this role as an entry level Associate Protection Engineer, you will provide support to projects, protection studies and perform protection job duties for transmission voltages 230 kV and below under direction of a more experience Protection Engineer or Protection Engineer Supervisor.

This position trains in all job duties in its respective discipline and requires a high level of training, direction, and review of work. This job is responsible for providing technical protection engineering for routine projects and maintenance/operation support including but not limited to: issuing protection requirements, relay and automatics settings, processing clearances, and investigating relay operations.

Emphasis is placed on mastering power system modeling, databases, Distribution transformer protection, and non-pilot transmission line coordination.

This position is hybrid, working from your remote office and your assigned work location based on business need. The assigned work location will be within the PG&E Service Territory.

PG&E is providing the salary range that the company in good faith believes it might pay for this position at the time of the job posting. This compensation range is specific to the locality of the job.  The actual salary paid to an individual will be based on multiple factors, including, but not limited to, specific skills, education, licenses or certifications, experience, market value, geographic location, collective bargaining agreements, and internal equity.

Annual salary range:

Minimum, $88,416

Maximum, $139,440

Job Responsibilities

• Provide protection engineering support for projects and studies. The engineer may perform the following job duties for transmission voltages 230 kV and below:
• Issue protection requirements and prepare description of operations for non-standard and localized RAS schemes
• Conduct short circuit studies, calculate short circuit line impedance
• Determine and issue relay and automatics settings
• Support relay system installations, such as review test program, end-to-end test, load check, direction check, relay release, etc.
• Conduct area coordination studies
• Participate in project walkdown and project meetings
• Provide construction drawing reviews
• Update and maintain records, such as Aspen relay data base, transformer data sheet, short circuit base case, hard copy files, and automatics data base, job files, port assignment sheets, breaker files, etc.
• Review and approve new tools and training prior to rollout
• Design and set localized RAS schemes based on Operation Engineering requirements
• Identify existing protection deficiencies
• The engineer at this level is also assigned to provide normal and emergency maintenance and operation support. The engineer may perform, but not limited to, the following tasks:
• Provide fault location
• Investigate questionable relay operations, perform remote event retrieval, and implement corrective actions
• Process clearance request and provide specific protection setup
• Assist technicians, operators for routine maintenance and operation work
• Specific Duties for Transmission Group:
• Provide project and routine M&O support to Hydro generation
• Manage digital fault recorders and perform event retrieval
• Conduct FERC generation interconnection studies and third-party load interconnections

To implement various aspects of the above job requirements, the candidate will work with internal engineering, operations, substation construction and maintenance organizations. May attend meetings representing the group, to meet job duties. External contacts are occasional and limited to simple issues.

Qualifications

Minimum:

• Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering or a related technical discipline from an accredited curriculum in the US or the equivalent from outside the US

Desired:

• Current and active California EIT Certificate
• 2 years of experience in engineering
• Able to apply basic engineering principles and theory
• Basic understanding of symmetrical component theory and ability to perform fault calculations
• Basic knowledge of logic gate theory and control circuitry
• Able to read and understand Operating, Single line, SLM&R, and Schematic diagrams
• Ability to quickly learn protection concepts and their application