Generation Resource Coordinator Specialist Engineer

BC Hydro; Burnaby; Hybrid; CAD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

15 paid vacation days

Flexible work model

Training and development courses

Job summary

BC Hydro seeks a Generation Resource Coordinator to manage daily load/resource balance estimates and outage planning for major generation facilities. You will coordinate with IPPs, use optimization models, and help integrate large IPP outages into planning processes.

The role requires 8+ years in energy planning, with strong communication to engineers, traders and project managers, and a safety-minded approach in a hybrid work environment.

Qualifications

• Engineering degree recognized by Canadian universities; master’s is an asset.
• Experience in energy and capacity management in hydro systems.
• Experience with outage planning, coordination, and scheduling tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead outage planning coordination with BC Hydro partners and IPP integration.
• Develop near- and mid-term planning tools for water conveyance, capacity and energy outages.
• Coordinate a 5-year integrated outage plan and provide recommendations on changes.
• Serve as a liaison among generation, transmission, traders, and project teams.

Skills

Java

C#

Power BI

Data analysis

Education

Engineering Degree recognized by Canadian Universities

Master's degree in a relevant field

Tools

Fabric

Power BI

Job description

Job Location:

Edmonds, Burnaby, BC (Lower Mainland)

Employment type:

Permanent, Full-time (37.5 hrs/wk)

Flexible Work Role:

Hybrid

Requisition:

52518788

A workplace powered by you

At BC Hydro, we're working towards creating a cleaner and more sustainable future for all British Columbians and need people like you to help us. A career at BC Hydro is meaningful and provides you the opportunity to be part of a talented, inclusive, and diverse team. We offer a healthy work-life balance, competitive wages, a comprehensive benefits package, and training opportunities to support you in your career growth. We're proud to be ranked as one of B.C.'s Top Employers and one of Canada's Best Diversity Employers.

What you'll do

BC Hydro operates a 13,200 MW system of hydroelectric, thermal, and market resources. Within Generation System Operations (GSO), energy, capacity, and water planning are managed by teams organized by planning time horizons from real time to five years.

In GSO, the System Optimization (SO) group of ten engineers plans the optimal use of energy and capacity for our major reservoirs and generation assets to meet domestic load and inform Powerex trade flexibility. The SO team holds a unique role, liaising with and informing decisions across multiple BC Hydro business lines: Operations Stations and Transmission, Energy Planning, Project Delivery, Regulatory, Finance, Customer and Corporate Affairs, and our trade subsidiary, Powerex. The SO team reports out, monthly, to VP of Operations and our CFO.

The opportunity provided here, within the SO team, is for one of three Generation Resource Coordinators (GRC). The GRC team manages a portfolio of work that includes our daily load resource balance estimates and is the Operational Planning Engineer for thermal assets and major contract resources (Independent Power Producers). The GRCs are the touchpoint between departments for BC Hydro's Annual Outage Plan for generation and water conveyance assets, ensuring sufficient system flexibility to meet reliability requirements. The GRC team is also responsible for supporting and developing new planning tools for near and mid term scheduling for water conveyance, capacity and energy outage planning.

• Works closely with our BC Hydro partners and Powerex to continuously develop, iterate, and evaluate outage planning to optimize dispatch flexibility, manage reliability risk and maximize benefits for our ratepayers. The GRC is GSO's primary contact for outage planning at our major generating facilities and for major planned transmission outages.


• The GRC team annually coordinates a 5-year integrated outage plan for capacity, energy, and major water conveyance with our BC Hydro partners. The GRC team manages the outage plan in between annual planning periods, providing recommendations on significant changes to outage schedules associated with changing reliability and cost risk implications.


• The GRC team is responsible for estimates of surplus capacity and daily energy associated with peak loads for summer, winter, and emergency periods. They also provide a daily strategy, if required, on meeting peak loads and maximizing consolidated trade potential.


• The GRCs are the lead representative for Thermal operations (Operation Planning Engineer) and as a specialist liaison for integration of large IPP outages into our planning with GSO.


• The team works with the larger SO team, within GSO, to help inform price signals for project dispatch and opportunity costs for outages. They ensure that GSO Operation Planning Engineers (OPEs) and real-time dispatch group (PSOSE) are aware of trade-offs between market dispatch and outage schedule management.


• The GRC team develops and maintains models used for evaluating the outages and impacts to reliability. With increasing temporal constraints on level of effort associated outage delivery and volumes, analytics, optimization, and reporting, new tool development associated with outage management is expected to grow.


• The GRC prepares briefing notes, gives presentations, responds to internal and external queries, and technical responses for regulatory filings for BC Hydro generating system.


• The GRC can also act as a GSO subject matter expert during system emergencies that may affect our load resource balance.

What you bring

• A relevant Engineering Degree recognized by Canadian Universities. A Masters in a relevant field (e.g. economics, system optimization, etc.) is an asset, as well as applied practice in generation or transmission maintenance and outage planning, thermal, or hydroelectric plant operations.


• A minimum of 8+ (Senior Engineer) or 10+ (Specialist Engineer) years of experience in some of the following: Energy and capacity management in a storage based hydroelectric system, generation and transmission maintenance and capital outage planning, optimization models, integrating contract energy and capacity (IPPs) into planning, and energy and capacity valuation associated with generation dispatch and outages.


• Registered, or eligible for immediate registration, as a Professional Engineer with Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia.


• Given ongoing model development, application experience in an object-oriented programming language (e.g. Java, C#) is requested. Experience with data management and reporting systems like Power BI and Fabric is a strong asset. Familiarity with existing BC Hydro outage management systems (e.g. CROW) is also recommended.


• Proven record of making decisions in uncertain, dynamic, and emergency environments.


• Demonstrated ability to lead, work within a tight team, and communicate effectively with engineers (generation, transmission, and planners), market traders, accountants, software consultants, and project managers, both within BC Hydro and externally.

What we offer

• A minimum of 15 paid vacation days


• Flexible work model, depending on your role type


• Training and development courses

For more information on the benefits we offer, visit bchydro.com/benefits.

What else you should know

• The role is a hybrid work model: working from home is permitted, however, a minimum of 3 days per week is expected in the office on joint team days in addition to attendance, as required, for special events and/or designated meetings.


• Applicants who do not meet full qualifications or those with lesser work experience may be considered for a lower level position.

Please be advised that this role has been assessed as safety sensitive and pre-qualification alcohol and drug testing will be required as a pre-condition to employment.

BC Hydro is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications from all qualified job seekers. If you're a person with a disability, please let us know by emailing [e-mail], as adjustments can be made to help support you in your application process.