Energy Autonomous Campus Programme Manager - Pretoria Verfied

Salary Negotiable Pretoria, Gauteng Pretoria, Gauteng more than 14 days ago 24-03-2015 2:00:33 PM
09-04-2015 1:09:12 AM
Energy-Autonomous Campus Programme Manager, Pretoria, R k pa neg.

Our client in the Energy environment has an employment opportunity for a Programme Manager to manage the entire Organisation’s Energy-Autonomous Campus programme in order to achieve the building of a world-class renewables-based micro-power system.

Our client has established an integrated energy research centre, where it will leverage the immense knowledge and skills base in energy that already exists within the organisation, and will reach out to external partners. The integrated energy research agenda will focus on energy efficiency and renewable energies as two global megatrends. These two topics will be flanked with research on ‘enablers’ for them, such as natural gas, smarter grids, energy storage and mobility. System integration will play an important role in bringing the different facets of these topics together and make them work in an integrated energy system. Our client is committed to provide decision-making support to South African businesses and policymakers that will be informed by its technical and technology research.

As part of the initiative to set up an integrated energy research centre, the Organisation intends to initiate a joint project together with its partners from the National System of Innovation, from South African industries and with Eskom to model the South African power and energy system in different extreme scenarios, taking into account the grid effects of intermittent renewables.

Requirements:
• Minimum B Hons degree in engineering, science or related field.
• Preferably further studies (e.g. MBA).
• Ten years project / programme management experience.
• Preferably exposure to renewables projects.
• Experience in contract management.
• Experience in project and programme scheduling, budgeting and controlling.
• Training and skills transfer of technical aspects of renewables.
• Experience in having budget responsibility.
• Experience in risk management.
• High contract management skills.
• High interpersonal skills.
• Influencing and negotiating skills.
• Proven leadership track record.

Responsibilities:
Energy-Autonomous Campus Programme Office Management
• Responsible for the day-to-day running of the programme office including planning, budgeting, controlling and reporting along the energy-autonomous campus programme.
• To conceptualize, implement and operate infrastructure and systems for the management of the energy-autonomous campus programme within the context of existing organisation’s systems.
• Derive the required budgets for all components of the Energy-Autonomous Campus and lead the motivation at relevant funders to raise the required funds.
Investment: Mix of Generators, Storage, Demand-side Mgmt and Control Systems
• Define the overall concept of how the Energy-Autonomous Campus shall be structured.
• Supply-side: Identify together with the hybrid power plant programme manager and the hybrid power plant modellers the optimal mix of supply-side options for the Organisation’s hybrid power plant that is the supply-side component of the Energy-Autonomous Campus.
• Demand-side: Identify together with the organisation’s facilities the optimal energy-efficiency measures to reduce the energy demand on the organisation’s campus
• Storage: Identify together with Organisation’s energy storage research group optimal energy-storage solutions for the Energy-Autonomous Campus. This can include different types of batteries, heat storage, power-to-H2 with hydrogen storage, biogas storage, etc.
• Control Systems: Identify together with the Organisation’s smart infrastructure research groups the architecture for a campus-wide control system to operate the energy-autonomous campus

Operations: Dispatch Models
• Define together with the hybrid power plant programme manager, the unit for market design and all other relevant stakeholders the dispatch regime for supply, dispatch-able-demand-side, and storage facilities of the energy-autonomous campus.
• Eventually, lead the establishment of a campus-internal market for optimal dispatch of all power generators, demand side tools, and storage.
• Guide the Organisation’s Facilities in defining the demand for power station operators to be hired to run the energy-autonomous campus.
Business Case: Financial Compensation
• Define together with Organisation’s Facilities the internal compensation mechanism for the energy services provided by the energy-autonomous campus.
• That will in the future also include negotiations with involved electricity distributors on wheeling arrangements to be able to form a Virtual Power Plant between all the Organisation’s campuses across the country.
Virtual Power Plant: Link to other Organisation’s Campuses and University Campuses
• Lead the establishment of the technical platform to build a Virtual Power Plant across all the Organisation’s campuses and including other interested parties (e.g. university campuses).
• Be in close contact with private industry players and system operators in power systems that have existing markets for Virtual Power Plants (VPPs), and that have already formed such VPPs.
Publications
• It is important for the Organisation to capture the knowledge that is created during the implementation of the Energy-Autonomous Campus and to publish the learnings and results. The individual is therefore responsible for ensuring that this knowledge is captured and appropriately communicated. This also entails the set up and operation of a website to publish design and operational data of the Energy-Autonomous Campus. It is not required for the individual to produce scientific publications, but to enable the production of such by providing appropriate platforms for the Organisation’s researchers and the relevant data in easy-to-access format.
Stakeholder Management
• The Organisation will implement the Energy-Autonomous Campus programme together with Eskom as a partner. The individual is responsible to manage the working relationship with Eskom on this topic and integrate Eskom staff into the execution team.

Instructions
Credit, criminal, qualification and employment history checks are a pre-requisite for this position.
Should you not be contacted within 10 days please consider your application as unsuccessful.
Please note that correspondence will be entered into with short-listed candidates only.