Sr. Physical Substation Engineer - Charlotte
Substation Physical Design Engineer
Position Overview
We are seeking a Substation Physical Design Engineer to support the engineering and design of high-voltage and extra-high-voltage substations. This individual will be responsible for developing physical design packages for new substations, expansions, upgrades, and brownfield retrofit projects.
The ideal candidate will have experience with substation general arrangements, equipment layouts, grounding, conduit and cable plans, bus design, clearances, and physical design calculations, with proficiency in AutoCAD and/or MicroStation.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop physical designs for transmission and distribution substations, including greenfield and brownfield projects.
- Prepare and review:
- General arrangement drawings
- Equipment plans and elevations
- Bus plans and elevations
- Conduit and cable plans
- Grounding plans
- Lightning protection layouts
- Fence and site layouts
- Control house layouts
- Foundation and equipment interface drawings
- Bills of material
- Perform substation electrical clearance, bus, grounding, and lightning protection calculations.
- Develop physical layouts for major substation equipment including power transformers, circuit breakers, disconnect switches, instrument transformers, capacitor banks, reactors, and bus systems.
- Ensure equipment arrangements meet applicable electrical clearances, utility standards, constructability requirements, and maintenance needs.
- Develop and review grounding grid designs and support grounding calculations in accordance with applicable IEEE standards.
- Coordinate physical design requirements with P&C, civil/structural, transmission line, system protection, and project management teams.
- Produce and modify engineering drawings using AutoCAD, AutoCAD Electrical, MicroStation, and/or Bentley design tools.
- Review vendor drawings and equipment documentation for transformers, breakers, switches, CTs, PTs/CCVTs, and other substation equipment.
- Support equipment specifications, material takeoffs, and procurement activities.
- Perform design reviews, drawing checks, and quality-control reviews.
- Support site visits, field investigations, construction activities, and resolution of field design issues.
- Develop designs for brownfield modifications while accounting for existing equipment, energized facilities, outages, and construction sequencing.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related engineering discipline.
- Experience performing physical design of electrical substations within the electric utility or power delivery industry.
- Knowledge of high-voltage substation equipment, layouts, electrical clearances, grounding, bus systems, and physical design requirements.
- Experience with AutoCAD and/or MicroStation.
- Ability to develop and interpret substation general arrangements, plans, elevations, sections, and equipment drawings.
- Understanding of applicable IEEE, ANSI, NESC, and utility design standards.
- Strong technical, organizational, and communication skills.
- Ability to coordinate across multiple engineering disciplines and manage design deliverables through various stages of a project.
Preferred Qualifications
- PE license or EIT certification.
- Experience designing 69kV, 115kV, 138kV, 230kV, 345kV, 500kV, or similar high-voltage substations.
- Experience with both greenfield and brownfield substation projects.
- Experience with Bentley Substation, MicroStation, AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit, or other 2D/3D design platforms.
- Experience performing or supporting grounding studies using CDEGS or similar software.
- Familiarity with IEEE 80 grounding practices and applicable substation electrical clearance requirements.
- Experience with rigid and strain bus design, conductor sizing, and bus calculations.
- Familiarity with physical design requirements for AIS and GIS substations.
- Experience supporting engineering projects from conceptual design through IFC design, construction, and energization.
Ideal Background
The strongest candidate will come from a utility, engineering consulting firm, EPC, or dedicated substation design group and have direct experience developing the physical layout of high-voltage substations.
This role is particularly well suited for engineers who understand how the entire substation physically comes together, including equipment placement, bus arrangements, grounding, conduit, cable routing, electrical clearances, lightning protection, and constructability. Candidates whose experience is exclusively P&C schematics or relay settings would not be the primary target unless they also have significant physical substation design experience.
FAQs
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