Principal Power Plant Engineer

The base salary for this position is dependent upon experience and location. Location: Klamath Falls, OR Salary Range: $152,000 to $160,400 Job Summary The Klamath Cogeneration Project is a 500 MW state-of-the-art gas-fired combined cycle cogeneration facility and a 100 MW Peaking Facility adjacent to the City of Klamath Falls, Oregon. These facilities operate as a flexible dispatch combined cycle merchant plant and a fast start peaking plant supplying power to California and the Pacific Northwest, as well as steam to the adjacent Collins Products manufacturing facility. Key Responsibilities • Day-to-day operations management of the facility in a safe, environmentally compliant, and fuel-efficient manner. • Recruiting, testing, training, development and direct supervision of approximately 10 multi-skilled plant operations technicians. • Coordinates with Asset Management and Trading staff in Portland and Plant O&M staff in Klamath to implement daily and/or hourly production targets, and ensure these targets are achieved in a safe and environmentally compliant manner. • Ensures a continuous supply of steam is safely delivered to host Collins in the most economical method practicable. • Has a leadership role in plant safety program and at times participates in knowledge sharing with other operational groups such as the wind and gas storage businesses. • Ensures the plant-wide computerized maintenance management system is utilized by plant operations. • Coordinates plant staff, outside contractors and OEM's to minimize O&M costs and optimize plant availability and reliability. • Responsible for operations coordination of scheduled and unscheduled outages. • Assists in the planning and execution of the operations portion of the facility O&M budget and provides input to the plant maintenance budget. • Responsible for the monitoring of facility heat rate, operating performance of plant equipment, and taking action when necessary to optimize overall facility performance. • Responsible for identification and cost-benefit analyses of plant betterment projects that improve plant efficiency, reduce O & M costs, or both. • Provide input for modifications and alterations that are required to conform to new or unique demands by corporate, plant requirements or regulatory agencies. • Assist in the addition or modification of computer controls to improve operational functionality of the facility. • Plans, manages and executes the design, engineering, procurement and construction of new projects. • Takes manager on call duties on a rotating basis. • Additional Responsibilities • Perform as team leader and be responsible for the safe and proper operation of the plant. Some duties include: work order oversight, coordination of maintenance activity, efficient operation of the plant, maintaining proper water chemistry and supervising Operations Technicians. • Responsible for the operations activities for environmental permit compliance. • Continually evaluate and prioritize plant conditions (steady- state, transient, & upset) and act to control, contain, and restore plant operations in a safe, appropriate, and environmentally compliant manner. • Monitor and interpret plant emissions and discharges and act to maintain compliance with all applicable laws, permits, provisions and orders. • Responsible for analyzing individual performance of Operations Technicians and providing guidance and feedback. • Develop a fundamental understanding of the merchant power business, and utilize that knowledge in decision-making, suggesting changes, or improvements to the overall plant operation. • Communicate regularly with Avangrid Power energy and asset management representatives, and on-site staff to optimize plant generation and achieve heat rate targets. • Responsible for capturing, analyzing, validating, interpreting and reporting all production data and statistics, both internal and external, as required. • Other duties as required Required Qualifications • Bachelor’s degree in engineering is required. • Minimum 3 years management experience in power generation or related field required. • Experience in power plant combined cycle operations is required. • Management skills including the ability to manage multiple projects and priorities, implement mission-critical programs, set expectations for and follow up with staff, recommend and oversee improvement of plant specific processes and systems. • Ability to perform and coordinate root cause analysis of plant/equipment problems and to implement corrective action, in a timely, safe and cost-effective manner. • Experienced in contract management and administration. • Ability to fulfill all customer expectations in an economical manner. • Ability to solicit and utilize 360° input, get buy-in, and, at times, be able to make decisions alone with the commensurate degree of urgency while maintaining an overall sense of ownership and teamwork within the organization. This includes being in the "Manager-on-call" rotation. • Decisions regularly affect the achievement of plant objectives, efficiency, morale, and financial performance. • Possess a high level of system and integrated process knowledge of power generation equipment. Preferred Qualifications • Minimum 7 years power plant experience, 10 or more years is preferred. • 10 years power plant experience. • Computerized maintenance management systems. • Plant and turbine distributed control systems. • Boiler and Cooling Tower water chemistry. • Environmental Permits, regulations and compliance reporting. • Microsoft Office programs (Excel, Word, Access, Outlook). Additional Success Factors • Ability to foster and participate in a productive team environment by establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with co-workers, managers, customers, contractors, and vendors. • Ability to analyze project risks and proactively identify solutions with a flexible, creative, and solution-focused outlook on prob