Resource Planning Engineer II-III

Arizona G&T Cooperatives; Benson (AZ); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (AEPCO) seeks a Resource Planning Engineer to help forecast demand, model resource options, and support planning and regulatory filings for AEPCO and its members. You will work with leadership to address load growth, power supply, and market dynamics.

The role emphasizes data analysis, modeling, and presentation of findings, with collaboration across engineering, regulatory, and energy services teams to optimize generation plans and risk management.

Qualifications

• Experience with complex mathematical programming in Excel, VBA, Matlab, or R.
• Ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, and work in teams.
• Strong understanding of power generation operations and utility planning.
• Equivalents or higher education/experience may substitute for requirements.

Responsibilities

• Model and investigate power supply options within AEPCO system constraints.
• Design, analyze, and implement generation dispatch parameters and hedging strategies.
• Develop Integrated Resource Planning filings for regulatory bodies.
• Analyze energy, generation, and transmission strategies for cooperative members.
• Support financial forecasts, load forecasting, and power cost studies.
• Manage strategic analyses and projects for the Cooperatives' portfolio.

Skills

Power industry expertise

Communication and teamwork

Excel/VBA/ Matlab / R for modeling

Independent problem solving

Education

Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Economics, Mathematics or another technical field

Job description

PURPOSE: The Resource Planning and Analytics area of Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (AEPCO) is responsible for the short-term and long-term strategic planning of AEPCO's existing and future power supply resources. The Resource Planning Engineer will work with leadership to plan for the future of AEPCO as well as its Cooperative Members and electric-industry partners in the areas of load growth and power supply, as well as relevant regulatory, environmental, and economic issues affecting the continued success of those power supply portfolios. This includes the technical and engineering-type analysis of resource energy production cost, forecasted electric demand, resource dispatch and unit commitment plans, power supply acquisition, transmission rights, fuel supply, and energy management strategies.

This position is highly analytical, involving data analyses, modeling and reporting functions including but not limited to 1) Load forecasting, production cost modeling and financial planning; 2) Modeling of power supply contracts and options; 3) Spreadsheet creation and analyses; 4) Capacity and energy planning; 5) Energy and natural gas market forecasting; 6) Administrative, data, information or other requests, data filings, and other customer service functions, and; 7) Other analyses and skills as may be necessary for departmental success.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Economics, Mathematics or another technical field.
• Strong understanding of the power industry and generation operations.
• Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing and to work in teams.
• Experience with complex mathematical programming in Excel, VBA, Matlab, R Suite, or similar.
• Ability to work independently, with a high degree of deductive reasoning, creativity and problem solving.
• Experience in technical writing, preferably with utility-related products (eg. IRPs, hedging plans, regulatory compliance reporting, etc.)
• Engineer II: Minimum of 3 years related utility experience
• Any equivalent combination of related education, training, and/or experience can be substituted for requirements listed above.

Experience preferred in any the following areas:

• Generation Resource Planning
• Electric Load Forecasting
• Power Supply Operations and Analysis
• Production Cost or Resource Capacity Expansion Modeling
• Transmission Rights and Analysis
• Electric Utility Regulatory Affairs & Strategy
• Utility Finance and Ratemaking
• Energy Marketing and Trading
• Utility Interaction with Independent System Operator (ISO) or Energy Imbalance Market (EIM)

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Model and investigate power supply options and opportunities in the context of the AEPCO system, including generation financing, transmission deliverability, regulatory and environmental requirements, fuel supply, and resource dispatch/operations.
• Work with AEPCO Energy Services and ACES Power Marketing to design, analyze, and implement generation dispatch parameters and hedging strategies, including physical/financial gas and power purchases.
• Create and support development of Integrated Resource Planning filings and other regulatory data filings for the Arizona Corporation Commission, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and California ISO.
• Analyze and recommend energy, generation, and transmission strategies for AEPCO's cooperative distribution Members, both at the individual level and whole AEPCO system.
• Support financial forecast creation, loan application requirements, load forecasting, load vs. resource comparisons, and power cost studies, as well as associated documentation, analyses and reporting.
• Support and manage projects and analyses of strategic importance to the Cooperatives' generation portfolio, and employ creativity in the recommendation of optimal operating strategies or generation plans.