Electrical Engineer

Full Job Description

This position is located with Bonneville Power Administration, in the Transmission Planning (TPP) organization of Planning and Asset Management (TP), Transmission Services (T).

A successful candidate in the Electrical Engineer position will serve as a senior engineer and technical specialist responsible for a variety of activities involved in planning BPA's transmission system and providing guidance to Transmission Services' asset investment strategy for the assigned transmission service area.

BASIC REQUIREMENT: A. Degree: Engineering.

To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics.

-OR- B.

Combination of Education and Experience -- college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering.

The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following: Professional Registration or Licensure -- Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico.

-OR- Written Test -- Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

-OR- Specified Academic Courses -- Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A.

The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A.

-OR- Related Curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor's degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance.

Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions.

(The above examples of related curricula are not all-inclusive.) For more information on how to meet the Basic Requirements please visit: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/files/all-professional-engineering-positions-0800.pdf SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS: A qualified candidate's online application and resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level GS-12 in the Federal service.

Specialized experience for this position is defined as: Specialized experience for this position is defined as experience in 1) performing complex bulk electric system simulations and analysis, interpreting study results and identifying transmission deficiencies including identifying thermal overloads, voltage violations, and voltage and/or transient instabilities in accordance with the regulatory standards, 2) developing cost-effective solutions and/or transmission expansions to mitigate deficiencies while maintaining the level of system performance required by industry standards, and 3) communicating complex technical information to higher-level employees, supervisors and customers for the planning or operation of a power system.

"Experience" refers to paid and unpaid experience.

Examples of qualifying unpaid experience may include: volunteer work done through National Service programs (such as Peace Corps and AmeriCorps); as well as work for other community-based philanthropic and social organizations.

Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills; and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment.

You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Time-in-Grade: Current Federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement to receive consideration.

CTAP/ICTAP candidates: To be considered "well qualified" you must meet all of the requirements as described in this section.

You must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of this announcement. Major Duties:

As an Electrical Engineer, you will: Lead and provide expert advice in the development of plans for modification and addition to BPA transmission system to reinforce flowgates, interties and load service areas to meet transmission system needs for load growth, existing transmission service obligation, interconnection requests for generators, lines or loads and long-term firm transmission service requests.

Provide guidance, advice as well as performs power system simulations that include power flow, voltage stability and transient stability studies on large-scale power system including analyzing and interpreting study results to identify problems and potential solutions.

Analyze BPA and regional transmission system performance to identify cost effective projects for application of non-wire solutions such as demand response, distributed resources and energy conservation to improvement of BPA transmission system efficiency.

Participate and represent BPA in industry groups such as FERC, NERC, WECC, Western Power Pool (WPP), Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and regional organizations such as the Northern Grid.