Control Room Operator

Company Overview

NovaSource Power Services is the new service partner for renewables asset owners ready to fuel smart growth. As an O&M-focused company with 20 years of operating experience, NovaSource has the global reach and strategic capabilities to achieve our clients’ renewables goals around the world.  

To serve our clients, we invest in our field teams. Technicians work most closely with renewables assets — and are in the best position to take on-target action each day. On hire, we assess each technician’s experience and safety training, then mentor them to grow an engaging and satisfying career.  

Our turn-key services we optimize each step of our clients’ project lifecycles — from commissioning to decommissioning and everything in between. Our approach creates success for our clients, stability for our teams, and enables us to build a world-class culture of excellence. And that’s how we empower a renewable world.  

 Objectives of this role

The Control Room Operator will play a key role in assisting the Operations Supervisor by pursuing maximum possible revenue deliveries, identifying, and initiating appropriate response plans for alarm conditions that may place safety or production at risk, and implementing all applicable regulatory and contractual obligations as they apply to real-time operations fleet wide. The Control Room Operator will be responsible for coordinating day-to-day operations activities for a diverse portfolio of generating facilities under the jurisdiction of many balancing authorities, transmission providers, and scheduling entities.

Your tasks 

• Monitors and operates many large and small aggregate generators, familiar with use of multiple monitoring and control platforms.
• Evaluate complicated operating situations against multiple regulatory and contractual obligations: operating contracts, business practice manuals, transmission and scheduling entity operating handbooks and O&M operating agreements.
• Operate multiple power plant control systems technologies across the fleet, understanding the behavior and capabilities of each technology; predict grid response to any control action; implement voltage schedules according to operating agreements and contracts.
• Initiate and document an appropriate alarm response plan for all trouble indications in accordance with procedure, including documenting low-impact and low-risk trouble indications in CMMS system for planned response; coordinating immediate response for high risk or high impact trouble indications, providing all notifications required by contracts and regulations to the Owner, Transmission Provider, and Scheduling Entity.
• Perform failure analysis 
• Maximize the fleet’s overall value through interactions with maintenance teams across the fleet; understand contractual dispatch obligations for each resource; understand the energy impact of all outages in the context of effective availability and performance requirements; always challenge the maintenance team to maximize the owner’s revenue and bonus; maximize value when accomplishing required maintenance.
• Maintains the operator log for tracking: capacity offline to ensure accurate up-to-date forecasting; trouble conditions and status for purposes of turnover and customer reporting; change in status of any contract or services; control actions implemented at the site or by Control Room; interactions with external regulatory entities.
• Provides contractually required failure notifications using the operator log

Experience

• 2 - 3 years’ experience in power plant operations experience.
• Able to demonstrate competent technical knowledge of general plant and system processes, electrical and SCADA systems.
• Able to demonstrate competent technical knowledge in analyzing equipment performance and identifying performance issues.

Required skills and qualifications 

Behavioral

• Ability to coordinate multiple activities and ensure safety, quality, and schedule adherence.
• Ability to take direction, identify problems, develop solutions, conduct analysis independently and in collaboration with others.
• Ability to work in a high-stress environment where decisions directly impact personnel safety and equipment reliability.

Technical

• Proficient computer skills using MS Excel, MS Project, MS Word, and Outlook
• Experience working with computerized maintenance management systems. (Salesforce)
• Understanding of electronic power system protection equipment purpose/behavior is required.
• VBA and/or SQL Experience is a plus.

Education

 Degree with an emphasis in power systems or formal operations apprenticeship training or equivalent (e.g. Engineering with a focus on electrical power systems).

• Experience may be considered if relevant.

Location: Sydney, Australia 

Reports to: Control room supervisor

Equal Employment Opportunity 

It is NovaSource Power Services’ policy to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees. NSPS disapproves of, and will not tolerate, unlawful discrimination against any applicant or employee because of race, colour, national origin or ancestry, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity, age, religion, disability, family care status, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, or any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws.