Electrical Engineer - Solar PV & Battery Storage at SolarAfrica Energy Pty Ltd

The Electrical Engineer's role will be to design and engineer battery energy storage systems and solar PV Systems by assisting SolarAfrica’s engineering team in their specific support functions. This includes acquiring/managing resources and coordinating the efforts of team members and contractors to deliver high-quality projects according to plan and specifications.

Successful candidates must demonstrate great attention to detail, excellent management skills, and multi-tasking abilities. Occasional overtime may be required to meet critical deadlines. The candidate should be willing to travel within South Africa and other African countries on an adhoc basis.

Principal responsibilities: 

• Undertake technical due diligence for projects and suppliers directly or with other departments' support.
• Design battery storage and solar system through solar-specific software to assist for project drawings, designs, yield reports and system modelling using HOMER, PVsyst and internal tools
• Conduct engineering “lessons learned” meetings and create a recommendations report identifying successful and unsuccessful project elements.
• Create and review electrical schematics and cable calculations, determine quantities, select equipment and specify all components to provide the optimal configuration for Battery-Storage and Solar systems.
• Design to legal & SolarAfrica standards and sign off
• Develop, review and vet project designs, drawings, simulations, scope of works (SOW), bill of quantities (BOQ), project proposals, full-scale project plans, schedule, and associated communications documents.
• Ensure SolarAfrica technical processes are followed by Contractors and all related documentation is submitted and filed away for future reference
• Initial project feasibility and engineering due diligence on all new financed products
• Perform commissioning checks on-site with contractors to ensure the system has been delivered according to predefined parameters and specifications to SolarAfrica standards.
• Performing site assessments to identify project-specific constraints and provide feedback in a formal report.
• Provide engineering support to and interface with internal stakeholders (project managers, project engineers, operations teams, product engineers, procurement, and sales team;) and external stakeholders to ensure consistent communication.
• Provide technical assistance for troubleshooting.
• Responsible for the integration of containerised batteries with battery inverter stations
• Review and approve all milestone documentation from an engineering compliance perspective
• Review and approve changes in project scope, identify potential risks, and devise contingency plans.
• Support component evaluation, specification and selection based on cost vs performance benefit.
• Technical support for Requests for Quotation and tender preparation.

PERSON DESCRIPTION

Experience:

• Electrical Engineering degree (or similar)
• Minimum 4 years experience in battery storage and/or solar systems engineering design
• Strong understanding of battery storage and solar (Photovoltaic) power systems
• Strong understanding and skills in design programs/systems (Homer, PVSyst etc.)
• Proficient in MS Word, Excel, PVSyst, Helioscope, and AutoCAD Electrical. 

Specific Attributes:

• Experience in working both independently and in a team-oriented, collaborative environment is essential.
• Comfortable working at heights to conduct site assessments.
• Can conform to shifting priorities, demands and timelines through analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
• Honest, mature, dependable.
• Ability to elicit cooperation from various sources, including upper management, customers, and other departments.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Must be able to learn, understand, and apply new technologies.
• You must demonstrate good attention to detail, sound judgment, logical decision-making, and a hands-on approach.

Core Values:

We hire, reward and recognise our team against these values. It is imperative that you believe in these values and demonstrates them consistently.

• We are passionate and proud of what we do.
• We communicate candidly, especially when it is difficult.
• We take initiative, share our mistakes and grow together.
• We are dependable and take accountability.
• No one person is bigger than the solution - no egos.