Solar Performance Engineer / Sonkrag prestasie-Ingenieur (AN 149)

Werkie • Full-time • Remote (Pretoria) • 2w ago

Introduction / Inleiding

Our client is an innovative clean energy developer, offering custom solar, energy storage, and microgrid solutions to help businesses reduce costs and environmental impact. They manage projects from engineering to installation, making sustainable energy accessible and financially rewarding.

LOCATION: Remote

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Ons kliënt is ’n innoverende skoonenergie-ontwikkelaar wat pasgemaakte sonkrag-, energiebergings- en mikronetwerkoplossings bied om besighede te help om koste en omgewingsimpak te verminder. Hulle bestuur projekte vanaf ingenieurswese tot installasie, wat volhoubare energie toeganklik en finansieel lonend maak.

LIGGING: Remote

Key Responsibilities / Hoofverantwoordelikhede

• Monitor daily/weekly performance of a portfolio of utility-scale and DG-scale PV sites against expected (weather-adjusted) production

• Identify underperformance at the site, inverter, combiner/recombiner, and string/tracker level using SCADA and DAS platforms (e.g., AlsoEnergy PowerTrack or similar)

• Track and triage inverter faults, tracker stow/follow anomalies, and communication outages; escalate to O&M vendors with supporting data

• Maintain dashboards (e.g., in Metabase, Power BI, or similar) that give a real-time picture of fleet health

• Design and build out alarming and monitoring tools (threshold-based alerts, exception reports, automated notifications) that give O&M teams faster visibility into faults, underperformance, and communication issues in the field — with an eye toward processes that scale as the fleet grows

• Build and maintain loss-waterfall analyses that decompose the gap between actual and expected production into categories (availability, curtailment, soiling, clipping, degradation, wiring/DC losses, etc.)

• Calculate contractual availability and performance ratio (PR) metrics per O&M and PPA agreements

• Query and manipulate large time-series datasets (SQL/PostgreSQL) to support root-cause investigations

• Automate recurring reporting using Python (pandas, etc.), building repeatable processes rather than one-off spreadsheets, so analytics keep pace as the portfolio grows

• Use AI tools (e.g., Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot) to accelerate data cleaning, script writing, and report generation, applying sound judgment to validate AI-assisted outputs before they inform decisions

• Build and maintain expected-generation models (e.g., PVsyst, SAM, PlantPredict, or in-house models) for new and existing sites, spanning both utility-scale and DG-scale projects

• Update models to reflect as-built conditions, equipment changes, degradation curves, and shading/soiling assumptions

• Support P50/P90 production forecasting and budget-vs-actual variance analysis

• Validate model assumptions against real operating data and refine over time

• Partner with O&M vendors on performance guarantee true-ups and dispute resolution

• Support procurement/engineering teams with data on equipment reliability (inverters, trackers, meters)

• Support technical due diligence for site acquisitions and portfolio growth — reviewing historical performance data, production estimates, and equipment condition to inform investment decisions

• Present findings to internal stakeholders and, occasionally, asset owners/investors

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• Monitor daaglikse/weeklikse prestasie van ’n portefeulje van nutskaal- en DG-skaal PV-terreine teenoor verwagte (weersaanpassende) produksie

• Identifiseer onderprestasie op terrein-, omskakelaar-, kombineerder/herkombineerder- en string/nasporingsvlak deur gebruik te maak van SCADA- en DAS-platforms (bv. AlsoEnergy PowerTrack of soortgelyk)

• Volg en kategoriseer omskakelaarfoute, nasporingsstelsel se stoor/volg-afwykings en kommunikasieonderbrekings; eskaleer na O&M-verskaffers met ondersteunende data

• Onderhou dashboards (bv. in Metabase, Power BI of soortgelyk) wat ’n intydse oorsig van vlootgesondheid bied

• Ontwerp en bou waarskuwings- en moniteringshulpmiddels (drempelgebaseerde waarskuwings, uitsonderingsverslae, outomatiese kennisgewings) wat O&M-spanne vinniger insig gee in foute, onderprestasie en kommunikasieprobleme in die veld — met die doel om prosesse te skep wat kan skaal soos die vloot groei

• Bou en onderhou verlies-waterval-ontledings wat die verskil tussen werklike en verwagte produksie opdeel in kategorieë (beskikbaarheid, beperking, besoedeling, knipverliese, agteruitgang, bedrading/DC-verliese, ens.)

• Bereken kontraktuele beskikbaarheid en prestasieverhouding (PR)-maatstawwe volgens O&M- en PPA-ooreenkomste

• Doen navrae oor en manipuleer groot tydreeksdatastelle (SQL/PostgreSQL) om worteloorsaakondersoeke te ondersteun

• Outomatiseer herhalende verslagdoening deur gebruik te maak van Python (pandas, ens.), deur herhaalbare prosesse te bou eerder as eenmalige sigblaaie, sodat analise kan tred hou soos die portefeulje groei

• Gebruik KI-hulpmiddels (bv. Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot) om dataskoonmaak, skripskryf en verslaggenerering te versnel, deur goeie oordeel te gebruik om KI-ondersteunde uitsette te valideer voordat dit besluite beïnvloed

• Bou en onderhou verwagte-generasie-modelle (bv. PVsyst, SAM, PlantPredict of interne modelle) vir nuwe en bestaande terreine, wat beide nutskaal- en DG-skaalprojekte insluit

• Werk modelle op om werklike geboude toestande, toerustingveranderinge, agteruitgangskurwes en skadu-/besoedelingsaannames te weerspieël

• Ondersteun P50/P90-produksievoorspelling en begroting-teenoor-werklike afwykingsanalise

• Valideer modelaannames teenoor werklike bedryfsdata en verfyn dit met verloop van tyd

• Werk saam met O&M-verskaffers rakende prestasiewaarborg-aanpassings en dispuutoplossing

• Ondersteun verkrygings-/ingenieurspanne met data oor toerustingbetroubaarheid (omskakelaars, nasporingstelsels, meters)

• Ondersteun tegniese omsigtigheidsondersoeke vir terreinverkrygings en portefeuljegroei, hersien historiese prestasiedata, produksieskattings en toerustingtoestand om beleggingsbesluite te ondersteun

• Bied bevindings aan interne belanghebbendes en, soms, bate-eienaars/beleggers

Minimum Requirements / Minimum Vereistes

• Minimum 2–3 years of experience in solar performance engineering, asset management, O&M, or a closely related analytical role in renewable energy, ideally with a track record of building (not just using) a process, tool, or reporting pipeline

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Renewable Energy, or a related technical field (or equivalent practical experience)

• Working knowledge of PV system fundamentals: inverter operation, string/central architecture, tracker systems, revenue metering, and how weather (irradiance, temperature, soiling) drives production

• Hands-on experience with AlsoEnergy PowerTrack (or a comparable SCADA/DAS/historian platform such as Locus, Power Factors, or PI), including familiarity with the PowerTrack API to build automated reporting and data pull processes

• Proficiency in SQL for querying large datasets; comfort with Python for analysis/automation (pandas, matplotlib/plotting libraries)

• Familiarity with performance modeling tools (PVsyst, SAM, PlantPredict, or similar) — or strong quantitative aptitude and willingness to learn

• Ability to read electrical single-line diagrams and site layout/LBD drawings

• Excellent written and verbal communication, comfortable turning messy data into a clear narrative for non-technical stakeholders

• A builder's mindset: energized by taking a manual or ad hoc process and turning it into something scalable, rather than just maintaining what already exists

• Self-directed and comfortable owning ambiguous problems; this is a lean, growth-oriented team where you'll have real agency to shape how performance monitoring and analytics evolve as the portfolio expands

• Comfortable using AI tools (LLMs, coding assistants) to speed up day-to-day analysis and scripting, paired with the technical judgment to catch errors and verify AI-generated output rather than accepting it at face value

• Experience with Modbus register-level troubleshooting or inverter fault code analysis (e.g., Sungrow, SMA, or similar OEMs), exposure to BESS (battery energy storage) performance and dispatch data, experience with BI tools (Metabase, Power BI, Tableau)and familiarity with O&M contract structures, availability guarantees, and liquidated damages calculations will be advantageous.
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• Minimum 2–3 jaar ondervinding in sonprestasie-ingenieurswese, batebestuur, O&M, of ’n nouverwante analitiese rol in hernubare energie, verkieslik met ’n bewese rekord van die bou van (nie net die gebruik van) ’n proses, hulpmiddel of verslagdoeningspyplyn

• Baccalaureusgraad in Elektriese Ingenieurswese, Meganiese Ingenieurswese, Hernubare Energie, of ’n verwante tegniese veld (of ekwivalente praktiese ondervinding)

• Werkskennis van PV-stelselbeginsels: omskakelaarwerking, string/sentrale argitektuur, nasporingstelsels, inkomste-meting, en hoe weer (soninstraling, temperatuur, besoedeling) produksie beïnvloed

• Praktiese ondervinding met AlsoEnergy PowerTrack (of ’n vergelykbare SCADA/DAS/historian-platform soos Locus, Power Factors of PI), insluitend vertroudheid met die PowerTrack API om outomatiese verslagdoening en data-onttrekkingsprosesse te bou

• Vaardigheid in SQL vir navraagdoening oor groot datastelle; gemaklik met Python vir analise/outomatisering (pandas, matplotlib/plotbiblioteke)

• Vertroudheid met prestasiemodelleringshulpmiddels (PVsyst, SAM, PlantPredict of soortgelyk) — of sterk kwantitatiewe aanleg en bereidwilligheid om te leer

• Vermoë om elektriese enkeldraad-diagramme en terrein-uitleg/LBD-tekeninge te lees

• Uitstekende geskrewe en verbale kommunikasie, gemaklik om ongeordende data in ’n duidelike narratief vir nie-tegniese belanghebbendes te omskep

• ’n Bouersdenkwyse: gemotiveer deur die omskepping van ’n handmatige of ad hoc-proses na iets skaalbaar, eerder as om slegs te onderhou wat reeds bestaan

• Selfgedrewe en gemaklik om verantwoordelikheid vir onduidelike probleme te neem; dit is ’n klein, groeigeoriënteerde span waar jy werklike invloed sal hê om te help vorm hoe prestasiemonitering en analise ontwikkel soos die portefeulje uitbrei

• Gemaklik met die gebruik van KI-hulpmiddels (LLM’s, kode-assistente) om daaglikse analise en skripskryf te versnel, tesame met die tegniese oordeel om foute op te spoor en KI-gegenereerde uitsette te verifieer eerder as om dit bloot te aanvaar

• Ondervinding met Modbus-registervlak-foutopsporing of ontleding van omskakelaarfoutkodes (bv. Sungrow, SMA of soortgelyke OEM’s), blootstelling aan BESS (battery-energieberging) prestasie- en verspreidingsdata, ondervinding met BI-hulpmiddels (Metabase, Power BI, Tableau) en vertroudheid met O&M-kontrakstrukture, beskikbaarheidwaarborge en berekeninge van gelikwideerde skadevergoeding sal voordelig wees.