Director of Operations and Maintenance

Swift Current Energy ( SCE ) is seeking a Director of Operations and Maintenance ( O&M ) for its rapidly growing portfolio of utility scale renewable energy projects. SCE develops, builds and operates wind, solar, and energy storage projects. One wind and several solar projects are under construction and will achieve commercial operations in 2023 and subsequent years. The wind project is located in ERCOT and has agreements with the turbine OEM for up-tower maintenance and with another provider for BOP O&M. The next project to reach COD is an ERCOT solar project that will have a long-term O&M agreement with a Tier 1 solar O&M provider. While SCE will initially utilize third-party operational providers, in the long term, SCE will look to build in-house O&M capabilities that will allow it to self-perform an increasing amount of O&M scope over time. This is a great opportunity to work with a young, successful, and rapidly growing renewables company.  SCE is a small, well-funded, and very employee-centric private company pursuing an aggressive project development and construction program. That program is underpinning the company's rapid growth into a large owner and operator of renewable energy and storage assets, and was the basis for the recent establishment of an asset management and operations group to manage these projects.

While this role is primarily focused on post-construction operations, SCE is deliberately structured such that employees work across renewable projects' lifecycles. In this regard, the successful candidate will also support SCE's development, procurement and construction, financial modeling, M&A groups, and other groups.  

This position will be Houston-based, however the Director of O&M will spend concentrated amounts of time at projects during construction. SCE values the involvement of operations staff well before commercial operations to allow for a seamless transition to operations. The Company values and rewards initiative, and stresses a strong commitment to its employees and its employees' responsibilities to their families. This position affords an excellent opportunity for professional growth.

The Director of O&M will be responsible for the following:

• Work closely with SCE and third-party EH&S staff to support environmental, health and safety procedures to ensure safe and reliable operation of SCE projects.
• Develop and implement operational procedures as needed, and review the operational procedures of third-party providers.  Support operational training as needed.
• Maintain thorough on-going awareness of technical and operational issues related to assigned projects including appropriately timed visits to the projects - [1) Manage on-going and emergent operational and technical issues]
• Provide advice to other SCE groups related to operations, for example - [1) Financial modeling group: Provide operational costs for use in financial models; 2) Construction/execution group: Opine on layouts of O&M buildings, SCADA arrangements, and other construction issues related to operations; 3) M&A group: Support diligence of development or operating projects under consideration for acquisition, for example reviewing operating costs or condition of equipment]
• Work closely with SCE asset managers to support development of annual operating budgets, providing input on operational cost line items and other issues
• Oversee third-party O&M providers to ensure contractual compliance - [1) Manage provider's day-to-day performance of scheduled and unscheduled maintenance; 2) Participate in shadow calculations of availability guarantees from OEM, O&M, or other providers; 3) Support warranty claims; 4) Support insurance claims, including managing root cause analyses undertaken by third parties]
• Support the establishment and subsequent tracking of metrics to ensure projects achieve optimal operational performance
• Participate in the negotiation of long-term O&M contracts, including in particular analyzing availability calculations
• Opine on required spares, and track that required spares are maintained by third-party providers
• Support cost/benefit analyses of equipment upgrades or other capex investments to improve performance and output
• Support project reporting (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) to internal and external parties
• Support end-of-warranty inspections
• 30% estimated travel; as needed

Qualifications for the Director of O&M include:

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or a related field
• 5-10 years' experience with the operational characteristics, issues, and requirements of large solar and wind projects, with emphasis on solar. Familiarity with availability calculations common to O&M agreements a plus
• Battery storage project experience a plus
• Strong writing, communication, and analytical skills
• Fluency with MS Office products, including Word, Excel, and Power Point