This position is located in Specialty Services (TETS), Commissioning and Testing (TET), Engineering and Technical Services (TE), Transmission Services (T) of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The purpose of this position is to serve as a technical specialist in the area of metering and relay systems and to provide advice to senior colleagues and agency officials responsible for broad program operations within the area of expertise.

Duties

As an Electrical Engineer, you will: Performs fault calculations and coordinates relay settings. Analyzes automatic fault clearing operations for proper protective scheme and power circuit breaker operation. Develops new methods, techniques, and/or procedures to improve efficiency in the setting and testing of new relay racks. Oversees the testing and calibration of new meters. Completes and reviews relay settings for new capital construction projects including line relay settings, transformer relay settings, bank differential relay settings, bus differential settings, capacitor and reactor relay settings, and settings for other protective relay equipment. Completes and reviews AGC and interchange meter settings for new capital construction projects and customer interconnection projects. Examines scheme design for conformance with accepted practice in the specialized field. Identifies problems and recommends and implements solutions. Reviews relay and meter related capital additions to assure adequacy for support of capital construction program. As technical specialist, develops, interprets, and applies the professional guidelines required to test and commission relays and meters. Uses his/her expertise and exercises broad latitude to interpret new or revised standards, codes, guidelines, policies, or regulations to achieve results while minimizing impact to the operation of power system. Provides technical analysis and coordinates with others in System Operations, Technical Services, Design, and District personnel on requirements and priorities for new relays. Participates in and provides feedback to BPA's meter and relay design organizations, as well as contract design organizations. Works with TET management, Project Managers, Project Coordinators, Project Engineers, District Resources, and Work Planner Schedulers to plan, schedule and support upcoming capital construction projects. Completes bench-board testing of relays in the Switchboard shop to ensure accurate settings and designs before relay and meter racks are transported to substations. Completes test plans for Switchboard shop testing of relay and meter racks. Completes and reviews test plans for relay trip checks and relay end-to-end tests of new relays installed at substations across BPA's system. Participates in and provides feedback to BPA's meter and relay design organizations, as well as contract design organizations. Performs other technical duties as assigned. Works with customers, state and federal agencies, the general public, etc., outside of BPA as necessary to accomplish relay coordination.

Requirements

• You must be a United States Citizen.
• This employer participates in the e-Verify program.
• Males must abide by Selective Service registration requirements.
• This position does not support remote work. You will be required to report physically to the official reporting worksite as specified by the supervisor, but no less than 2 days per pay period.
• The salary is based on a Special Rate Table, Number {{0754}}: https://apps.opm.gov/SpecialRates/
• Current Federal employees or other individuals with an existing completed background investigation may not be required to undergo another background check.
• After employment, this position may be subject to periodic physical examinations, as prescribed by competent medical authority and at BPA expense, if exposed to health hazards.

Qualifications

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: 1. 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- 2. 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- 3. 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- 4.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: experience in 1) performing system and equipment analysis for design, test, and integration, and 2) coordinating, directing, and overseeing of work related to electrical systems in support of maintenance or construction activities such as protective relaying, metering, supervisory control, data acquisitions, telemetering, stability controls, or microprocessor-based control systems. There is no substitution of education for experience at the GS-13 level. "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. You must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

This vacancy has a positive education requirement. In order to be rated as qualified, you must provide copies of your college transcripts. Education must be obtained from an accredited institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. See Department of Education Accreditation Search to verify school accreditation.

Foreign education must be reviewed by an organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For special instructions pertaining to foreign education and a list of organizations that can evaluate foreign education, see the Department of Education website.DO NOT email or mail in any of your application documents. Documents will not be accepted outside of the online application system.

Failure to provide copies of your college transcripts may result in a rating of "Ineligible".

Contacts

• Address Bonneville Power Administration P.O. Box 3621 Portland, OR 97208 US
• Name: Pearl Phadungcharoen
• Phone: 5032305320
• Email: [email protected]