Performance Engineer II, EPC (Remote)

SOLV Energy; San Diego (CA); Hybrid; USD 118,000 - 129,000; Full time

Job summary

SOLV Energy is a premier provider of infrastructure services to the power industry, delivering solar, storage, and high voltage substation projects nationwide. The Performance Engineer II role oversees day-to-day project operations and can be remote or hybrid with regular in-office presence in San Diego, CA or Bend, OR.

You will lead data-driven performance analysis, collaborate with internal teams, mentor engineers, and drive fleet optimization while maintaining safety and high reporting

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, physics, science, or a related technical discipline.
• 4+ years' experience in PV Performance Engineering, Capacity Testing (ASTM E2848 & IEC standards) and PV data analytics.
• Experience in modeling using software like PVSyst, PlantPredict, SAM, and so on.
• Proficiency in MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and other Office tools.
• Experience with programming languages like Python, VBA, MATLAB, Java, and others preferred.
• Ability to travel up to 20% of time.
• Broad understanding of the Renewable Energy industry with emphasis on Service and Construction preferred.
• Strong communication and analytical skills; mentor and lead others.

Responsibilities

• Stresses the importance that safety is the most important function and ensures safe practices.
• Collaborate with internal teams to collect data and deliver reports and tests.
• On-board active projects into SOLV Energy's Performance Team platforms.
• Track critical issues and share findings to optimize fleet performance.
• Troubleshoot performance data to identify challenges and correlate with workorder data.
• Lead Performance Engineers & Analysts in day-to-day coordination of operations.
• Maintain understanding of site design, equipment, and current issues.
• Analyze energy losses and system performance from outages and communicate impacts.
• Update reports for clients including Commissioning Plans, Test Reports, Vitals, forecasting.
• Support field work prioritization based on criticality and failures.
• Work with OEMs, field technicians, SCADA engineers and others as needed.
• Assist with data analytics tools development and software improvements.
• Review performance reports to identify issues and improvements.
• Manage plant performance optimization initiatives and client collaboration.
• Track guarantees and report risks; conduct periodic reviews.
• Document procedures for internal training and reference.
• Facilitate project reviews and client requests; escalate as needed.
• Review turnover docs for root causes of failures.
• Run PV system energy models using PVsyst or other tools.
• Verify drawings and system layout; ensure accuracy.
• Create/maintain troubleshooting templates and workflows.
• Execute tasks per the Performance Engineering Workflow Process.
• Perform simulations: terrain, horizon losses, shading, snow/soiling.
• Grow into a subject matter expert in PV power plants.

Skills

PV Performance Eng

Capacity Testing

PV Data Analytics

Python

VBA

MATLAB

Java

PVSyst

PlantPredict

SAM

MS Excel

Travel up to 20%

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering, physics, science, or a related technical discipline

Tools

PVSyst

PlantPredict

SAM

Python

Job description

SOLV Energy is a leading provider of infrastructure services to the power industry, designing, building and maintaining utility scale solar, battery storage and high voltage substation projects nationwide.

Job Description Summary:

The Performance Engineer II is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operational activities of active projects.

This role can be fully remote or hybrid with regular in office presence in San Diego, CA or Bend, OR. Specific location details and expectations will be discussed during the interview process.

Job Description:

*This job description reflects management's assignment of essential functions; it does not prescribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned

Position Responsibilities and Duties:

• Stresses the importance that safety is the most important function, ensures that all employees from field team to office follow safe practices while working.
• Collaborate with internal teams to collect and consolidate necessary data to complete reports, Acceptance tests, other analytical tools, and deliverables.
• Responsible for the on-boarding of active projects into SOLV Energy's internal Performance Team's platforms.
• Collaborate with fellow Performance Engineers & Analysts to track critical issues within the construction and/or operational fleet (equipment, parts, manufacturers, etc.) and share findings with internal teams with a common goal of fleet optimization.
• Troubleshoot performance data/equipment to determine and track challenges associated with commissioning and correlate with workorder data for accurate reporting.
• Lead Performance Engineers & Analysts in day-to-day coordination and management of operational activities relating to projects.
• Maintain a thorough understanding of site design, equipment and current issues affecting projects.
• Calculate and analyze energy losses and system performance incurred from equipment outages/underperformance and communicate impacts to relevant internal and external teams using internal tools and ad-hoc analyses.
• Maintain a thorough understanding of analytical tools and performance calculations and best practices.
• Identify and assist with troubleshooting potential issues using analytical tools.
• Using internal tools, update existing reports for clients including Commissioning Plans, Test Reports, Operation reports, Vitals, forecasting, and Yearly Guarantees.
• Help support work prioritization for field teams based on criticality and occurrences of failures.
• Identify operational issues and initiate problem resolution while working with OEM vendors, field technicians, SCADA engineers, and other parties as needed.
• Work with Performance Engineers and Performance Engineering Managers in assisting and supporting data analytics and other software tools development.
• Review performance and operations reports and analyses generated by Performance Engineers & Analysts to ensure accuracy and to identify operational/performance issues within projects.
• Manage plant performance optimization initiatives and collaborate with fellow Performance Engineers, Field & Project Management team and client.
• Track and understand contractual guarantee and conduct periodic meetings to assess projects risk and any possible improvements, remediations, or optimizations.
• Maintain clear and accurate documents/procedures for internal reference and training purposes.
• Facilitate a strong working relationship with fellow Performance Engineers while prioritizing project ownership and project success.
• Facilitate project reviews and ad-hoc requests from clients as needed to address performance of projects. Escalate issues to management as needed.
• Review turnover documentation to review/monitor various root causes for equipment underperformance and failure modes.
• Run and evaluate PV system energy models for Utility Scale Solar PV Projects using PVsyst or other modeling software as needed.
• Verify project drawings including site plans, system layout, one lines, cable management, and equipment installation details.
• Create project specific troubleshooting/reporting templates as applicable and also maintain or improve the workflow task templates with new updates as needed.
• Execute all tasks as assigned in the Performance Engineering Workflow Process while maintaining accurate and up-to-date status notes.
• Perform and track different simulations in the PVsyst such:
  • Impacts of terrain
  • Horizon losses
  • Tree or external shading
  • Snow, Soiling and Spectral Losses
• Grow into a role of subject matter expert in PV power plants.
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Skills or Experience Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, physics, science, or a related technical discipline
• 4+ Years' experience in PV Performance Engineering, Capacity Testing (ASTM E2848 & IEC standards) and PV data analytics
• Experience in modeling using software like PVSyst, PlantPredict, SAM, and so on
• Proficiency in MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and other Office tools
• Experience with programming languages like Python, VBA, MATLAB, Java, and others preferred
• Ability to travel up to 20% of time
• Broad understanding of the Renewable Energy industry with emphasis on Service and Construction preferred
• Foster a spirit of collaboration between teams
• Experience working for a diverse multi-disciplined company
• Strong communication skills to clearly articulate vision into an executable plan and clearly communicate details and thoughts to internal/external clients
• Effective problem-solving ability and strong analytical skills. Ability to identify underlying or hidden problems; looks beyond the obvious to the essence of issues and / or tasks.
• Entrepreneurial spirit and passion for problem solving
• Able to problem solve and engineer the solution
• Able to explain to both internal and external clients
• Able to mentor and oversee Performance Engineers & Analysts

SOLV Energy Is an Equal Opportunity Employer

At SOLV Energy we celebrate the power of our differences. We are committed to building diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces that improve our communities. SOLV Energy prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind against an employee or applicant based on race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, or ethnicity, mental or physical disability, veteran status, parental status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Benefits:

Employees (and their families) are eligible for medical, dental, vision, basic life and disability insurance. Employees can enroll in our company's 401(k) plan and are provided vacation, sick and holiday pay.

Compensation Range:

$117,678.00 - $129,446.00

Pay Rate Type:

Salary

Job Number: J13940