Lead Engineer, Transmission Planning

About us

National Grid is hiring a Lead Engineer, Transmission Planning for our Electric Transmission Planning division in Waltham, Mass. This is a hybrid role with regular office visits 1-2 days a week, sometimes more.

Every day we deliver safe and secure energy to homes, communities, and businesses. We are there when people need us the most. We connect people to the energy they need for the lives they live. The pace of change in society and our industry is accelerating and our expertise and track record puts us in an unparalleled position to shape the sustainable future of our industry.

To be successful we must anticipate the needs of our customers, reducing the cost of energy delivery today and pioneering the flexible energy systems of tomorrow. This requires us to deliver on our promises and always look for new opportunities to grow, both ourselves and our business.

Job Purpose

Perform Transmission Planning functions within the Transmission Planning group responsible for New England. Establish transmission development/expansion plans for the optimized, safe and effective management of our transmission assets with respect to thermal (powerflow), stability, voltage, and short circuit requirements over their whole lifecycle in New England.

Key Accountabilities

• Conduct analytical studies for transmission system expansion, interconnection of new generation, and load to the transmission system. These analytical studies should consider power system thermal, voltage, and reactive behavior, as well as transient, dynamic, harmonic, and short circuit performance as they relate to system reliability, economics, and operating flexibility.
• Presents or directs corporate testimony and responses for rate cases and other local, state or federal regulatory proceedings.
• Leads advocacy of governing Transmission Planning processes and standards, affecting the company, ISO-NE and NPCC
• Contributes to the development of technical expertise in Transmission Planning by preparing and/or arranging professional quality technical seminars and presentations to train less-experienced engineers;
• Leads technical projects having significant economic impact on system design, engineering, construction and operation
• Represents the company on transmission system matters with various industry and professional society committees and working groups
• Perform EMT simulations and studies of complex systems involving power electronics, distributed generation and large transmission network using detailed modelling and simulation in PSCAD.
• Perform PSCAD analyses needed for feasibility and system impact studies to interconnect new generation and FACTS devices. These studies are performed to identify and mitigate SSR (sub-synchronous resonance), control system interaction and sub-synchronous torsional interaction issues.
• Perform thermal capability analysis (ratings) for transmission lines, power transformers, circuit breakers, switches, and surge arresters. Perform transfer limit analysis for transmission network interface.
• Perform all computer modeling necessary to conduct power flow and stability studies for Transmission Planning as well as other National Grid engineering functions; utilize a team approach to ensure consistent and thorough analysis in all Transmission Planning studies.
• Incorporate asset management analyses into planning studies to develop comprehensive area solutions.
• Present study reports and findings to the Independent System Operator – New England (ISO-NE) committees for various approvals.
• Manage consultants’ work ensuring technical adequacy complying with National Grid, ISO-NE, NPCC and NERC standards and criteria.
• Resolve technical issues that may arise in different phases of a project.

Supervisory/Interpersonal- Experience Required

• Able to lead and supervise a project team or virtual teams to achieve business objectives.
• Work ethic that includes internal and external customer focus, flexibility, teamwork and continuous improvement.
• Ability to prioritize work and participate as a team member on multiple projects at one time, to work in a fast paced and competitive environment envisioned with FERC Order 1000.
• Demonstrate a high level of personal initiative an ability to interact with company personnel, external engineering firms, regulatory representatives, town/city officials, and ISO/NPCC/NERC representatives in a positive, team building manner.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from an accredited engineering school required. Master's Degree in Electrical Power Systems strongly preferred. Professional Engineering registration strongly preferred. AS WELL AS:
• Minimum of 6 years of related experience
• Knowledge of engineering economics, energy market economics, project management, team leadership, and utility business practices.
• Familiarity with ANSI standards, NESC, and IEEE standards, Transmission Planning standards and criteria of NERC, NPCC and/or other regions such as PJM desired.
• Experience within a RTO (such as ISO-NE, NYISO, PJM, CAISO etc.) planning processes preferred.
• Knowledge of power systems strongly preferred including protection system operation and reliability philosophy, utility system practices, three-phase power system theory/operation both static and dynamic, short circuit theory/application, motor generation theory/application, reactive compensation theory, substation configuration/construction/maintenance techniques, transmission line configurations/design/maintenance techniques, outage planning, and congestion philosophy and analysis.
• Demonstrated ability to critically evaluate results of analyses and studies required for senior level positions. 
• Experience with state-of-the-art techniques in power flow, short circuit and transient stability analyses.  PSS/E, MUST, ASPEN, PSCAD and/or PowerGem TARA experience required. 
• Ability to understand commercial aspects of transmission projects.

More Information

Salary: $132,000- $155,000 a year

This position has a career path which provides for advancement opportunities within and across bands as you develop and evolve in the position; gaining experience, expertise and acquiring and applying technical skills. Candidates will be assessed and provided offers against the minimum qualifications of this role and their individual experience.

National Grid is an equal opportunity employer that values a broad diversity of talent, knowledge, experience and expertise.  We foster a culture of inclusion that drives employee engagement to deliver superior performance to the communities we serve.  National Grid is proud to be an affirmative action employer. We encourage minorities, women, individuals with disabilities and protected veterans to join the National Grid team.