DescriptionUnder the direction of the Plant Manager, the Plant Engineer provides technical leadership and engineering support to ensure the safe, reliable, environmentally compliant, and cost-effective operation of the St. Charles Energy Center. This role supports day-to-day plant operations, maintenance and outage planning, reliability and performance improvement initiatives, capital projects, and regulatory compliance efforts.
The Plant Engineer serves as a key technical resource for plant personnel and collaborates closely with operations, maintenance, contractors, vendors, and corporate support teams to optimize plant performance, equipment reliability, and overall availability.
The St Charles Energy Center is 2x1 gas fired combined cycle facility utilizing GE 7FA.05 Gas Turbines and D11 Steam Turbine. The facility uses beneficial reuse, or reclaim, water in a counterflow cooling tower for condenser cooling. The 745 MW facility is interconnected to PEPCO and sells power into the PJM market.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities- Provide hands-on engineering support for all combined cycle plant systems, equipment, and processes.
- Troubleshoot equipment and system issues, supporting root cause analyses for forced outages, equipment failures, and performance deviations.
- Monitor and analyze plant performance, heat rate, and reliability metrics to identify optimization and improvement opportunities.
- Maintain accurate and current technical drawings, engineering files, system documentation, and reference materials.
- Engineer, evaluate, justify, and implement plant modifications, upgrades, and reliability improvement initiatives.
- Support planning and execution of scheduled and emergent outages, including scope development, contractor coordination, schedule support, quality oversight, and post-outage reviews.
- Develop scopes of work, technical specifications, bid packages, and engineering documentation for maintenance activities and outages.
- Support reliability programs including Management of Change (MOC) and Root Cause Analysis (RCA), ensuring proper documentation and corrective action implementation.
- Assist in development, optimization, and execution of preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance strategies within the CMMS.
- Support capital project development, budgeting, execution, and cost tracking.
- Coordinate and provide technical oversight of contractors, consultants, and vendors working on site.
- Support regulatory and corporate compliance requirements, including environmental, safety, NERC, and internal standards.
- Assist with development and continuous improvement of plant procedures, operating practices, and maintenance programs.
- Promote a strong safety culture and ensure compliance with all safety policies and regulatory requirements.
- Provide technical guidance and mentorship to operations and maintenance personnel.
- Support workforce development and qualification programs.
- Participate in plant call-out and emergency response activities as required.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
RequirementsRequired- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline (or equivalent combination of education, technical training, and industry experience).
- 5-10 years of experience in power generation operations, maintenance, engineering, or related industrial environments.
- Strong technical knowledge of combined cycle power plant systems, including gas turbines, steam turbines, HRSGs, generators, balance-of-plant systems, instrumentation, controls, and electrical systems.
- Demonstrated troubleshooting, analytical, organizational, and communication skills.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced operational environment.
Preferred- Experience supporting plant commissioning, outage execution, reliability engineering, and capital projects.
- Familiarity with reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) practices.
- Experience with CMMS platforms such as Maximo or SAP.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel.
- Ability to read and interpret P&IDs, electrical schematics, and other engineering drawings.
- Experience coordinating contractors and managing technical projects in an industrial or power generation setting.
Work Environment & Physical RequirementsThis position involves a combination of office and field work in an operating power plant environment. The Plant Engineer must be available for extended hours during outages and emergent conditions and participate in an on-call rotation as required. Physical requirements include the ability to:
- Climb ladders and stairs and work at heights
- Enter confined spaces
- Lift up to 50 pounds
- Perform frequent walking, standing, bending, kneeling, reaching, and extended periods of physical activity
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