Remote PV Performance Engineer II

SOLV Energy; Wisconsin; Hybrid; USD 118,000 - 129,000; Full time

Job summary

SOLV Energy is seeking a Performance Engineer II - O&M to oversee day-to-day operations on active solar, storage, and substation projects. The role can be fully remote or hybrid with in-office presence in San Diego, CA or Bend, OR.

Location specifics will be discussed in interviews. You will lead data collection, project onboarding, and fleet optimization while collaborating with engineers, field teams, and vendors.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, physics, science, or a related technical discipline
• 4+ Years’ experience in PV Performance Engineering or data analytics
• Experience in modeling using software like PVSyst, PlantPredict, SAM
• 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 I/II

Responsibilities

• 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 I & II 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 I & II 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 I & II 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.

Skills

PV Performance Engineering

Data analytics

PVSyst

PlantPredict

SAM

Python

Excel

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering, physics, science

Tools

PVSyst

PlantPredict

SAM

Job description

SOLV Energy is seeking a Performance Engineer II - O&M to oversee day-to-day operations on active solar, storage, and substation projects. The role can be fully remote or hybrid with in-office presence in San Diego, CA or Bend, OR.

Location specifics will be discussed in interviews. You will lead data collection, project onboarding, and fleet optimization while collaborating with engineers, field teams, and vendors.