Communications Engineer

About The Role

Overall Description of Duties

You will be responsible for leading on the technical integration of suitable flexible assets into the Ecotricity Smart Grid VPP. Reporting to the Commercial Manager and working alongside the VPP Growth Officer, you will support the end-to-end onboarding of customers, as well as the account management thereafter. This will be achieved primarily by specifying, instructing and organising work carried out by our contractors and those of our clients.

The role is also responsible for liaison with the National Grid ESO and other flexibility service buyers, such as Distributed Network Operators (DNOs) to ensure platform assets are capable of delivering such services.

You are likely to have an engineering background and have worked in a relevant field.

Ecotricity Smart Grid

Smart Grids is the Ecotricity corporate entity which has developed the control & optimisation platform Ecolibrium which, along with the hardware/software of Ecolink, monitors and controls assets of both Ecotricity and third parties remotely. Ecolink is our interface to remote generation, demand or energy storage devices. It comprises a PC, PLC, modem and SIM cards which provides the physical connection at remote locations. Then there is an intricate set of logic and register mapping to ensure efficient communication between Ecolibrium and the device.

Smart Grids Team Context

The Smart Grid team is responsible for the platform and models which constitute the Ecotricity Virtual Power Plant (VPP), to be known as Ecolibrium, as well as procuring flexibility assets as clients for the VPP.

This will include ‘non-owned’ assets such as PPAs and contractual relationships with 3rd parties for embedded generation response, or load flexibility. The Ecotricity Smart Grid team works in close conjunction with the Ecotricity Limited Trading team, arbitraging price spreads / load shifting, as well as developing revenues from the ancillary services market.

There is a necessarily close relationship with the Development team to progress developable and commercially viable projects through to deployment to fit in with VPP needs. Similarly there is a close relationships with the business parts of sales, as we look for flexibility opportunities via the B2B ‘Made to Measure’ offering into the VPP given the right incentives and products.

Core Responsibilities

• Integration and onboarding of assets through establishing EcoLink connections:
• Specifying and instructing development of new capabilities for our EcoLink device
• Identify and assist in contract negotiations for procurement of necessary technologies, where required.
• Work closely with key internal stakeholders from the planning, construction and operations teams
• Assess the interface requirements of new Grid services in contemplation.
• Advise VPP Growth Officer on whether prospective assets align with Ancillary Service needs (size, location, design)
• Understand the technical requirements of National Grid ancillary services and how these can be met by flexible technologies. Advise on and develop appropriate methods of control and monitoring to deliver the services.
• The role and interaction with National Grid is one of relationship and liaison to sufficiently understand the technical requirements of services in scope with the ability to challenge where necessary.

Additional Responsibilities

• Engage with the Development branch of the Smart Grid team in developing the service requirements and maintaining accurate asset state data
• Maintain the records of asset details including site locations, SIM card numbers, IP addresses
• Contribute to strategy development for the team
• Attend relevant internal and external meetings where technical input is required
• Research and assess the viability of all emerging flexible technologies of interest to the VPP.
• Research potential new services from National Grid and the Distribution Network Operators.

About You

Essential Skills

• Technical understanding of renewable technologies, in particular energy storage
• Ability to read and understand a site Single Line Diagram
• Understanding of IT communication methods, e.g. MODBUS or MQTT
• Understanding of power system terminology e.g. reactive power, frequency etc.
• Excellent analytical ability
• Strong report writing ability
• Good communication abilities
• Excellent MS Excel, Word, Visio skills
• Good organisational and process disciplines

About Us

What's in it for you...

Healthcare plan, life assurance and generous pension contribution

Volunteering day

Hybrid working

Various company discounts (including shops, gym, days out and events)

Holiday of 25 days (plus bank holidays) & ability to buy/sell days

Cycle to work scheme, car pooling and onsite parking available

As a valued member of the team you will be supporting the Group Environmental policy and its associated targets to make the Green Britain Group net carbon neutral by 2025

Flexibility statement

The fast moving nature of the company's business means that from time to time you may be asked to perform duties or tasks outside of your original job description on an ad hoc basis. This allows the company to use it's people in the best possible way at all times and helps the employees to make make their contribution in a changing environment.

Ecotricity is Britain's greenest energy company. When we started back in 1995, we were the first company in the world to provide a new kind of electricity- the green kind.

Our mission was, and remains, to change the way energy is made and used in Britain- by replacing fossil fuels with clean, renewable energy.

We don't just supply green energy, we use the money from our customers' bills to make it ourselves too- we build windmills and sun parks in Britain. We call this 'bills in to mills'. In 2021, we started work on building two new solar parks, and now, in 2023, we're bringing geothermal energy to our customers' fuel mix, a first in the UK. We're also developing green gas mills which will generate 100% green gas from a source that we will never run out of- grass.

We don't just focus on energy though- we built Electric Highways, Britain's leading network of electric vehicle charging points, we helped Forest Green Rovers become the greenest football club in the world, and, in partnership with RSPB, we launched Britain's greenest mobile phone service, Ecotalk.

Ecotricity is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to providing equality for all.