Role Overview

Title: Head of Plant Operations

Hours: Full-time; Salaried

Location: Salt Lake City, UT

Benefits Eligible: Yes

Reports to: CEO

Mission – Why we exist and why we need you

Geothermal energy is the most abundant renewable energy source in the world. There is 2,300 times more energy in geothermal heat in the ground than in oil, gas, coal, and methane combined. However, historically it’s been hard to find and expensive to develop. At Zanskar, we’re using better technology to find and develop new geothermal resources in order to make geothermal a cheap and vital contributor to a carbon-free electrical grid. We are revolutionizing the exploration process, setting new industry standards for discovery rates and finding new prospects at an unprecedented scale.

We need a Head of Plant Operations to manage our power plants starting with Lightning Dock Geothermal Power Plant and onsite team based in New Mexico. The Lightning Dock geothermal plant is an air-cooled, Organic Rankine Cycle, 15 MW Turboden plant that operates off 2 pumped production wells and 8 injection wells. The Head of Plant Operations will visit the plant consistently to ensure safe, efficient and compliant operations at the plant site, and will tackle any operational issues that may arise. In addition, this person will help stand up a corporate operating company that can bring in-house both back and front end work that is currently supported by several key consultants.

Outcomes - Problems you’ll solve

The first three months will be spent working with our current operational consultants and the onsite operating team to learn about the plant and our current standard operating procedures (SOP) at Lightning Dock. After this onboarding period, this person will propose future hires for an inhouse corporate operational team and improvements to our SOPs that can occur over the following 3-12 months. Success will be measured by the growth and execution of an existing health, environment, and safety program, retention of onsite operational staff, improvements to efficiency and downtime of the plant, compliance to all laws, by expense and financial performance vs budget, and other operational metrics.

In addition to the usual operations of a geothermal power plant, Zanskar has aggressive plans for additional exploration and development activities at Lightning Dock and beyond. The Head of Plant Operations must grow the corporate operating company to operate additional geothermal generation over the next 10 years as it grows to meet clean, firm power market demands.

Key activities include:

- Support plant team in managing a variety of power generation equipment at plant sites, including wellfield, pipelines, heat exchangers, turbines, generators and cooling towers

- Manage Zanskar’s Health and Safety Program for its plant teams, including compliance with OSHA standards and regularly updating manuals and trainings, and systems such as the Process Safety Management and EPA’s Risk Management Program

- Monitor plant operating data, identify abnormal conditions, scope solutions, source parts, negotiate with vendors, and coordinate with onsite teams to implement

- Support plant team in planning and scheduling regular preventative maintenance activities, including annual outages

- Support plant team in having long lead time item parts available for any unforeseen equipment failures

- Support plant team in writing regular internal and external facing operating reports

- Support plant team in the management of contracts with all parts and services vendors

- Help coordinate work or activities with regulatory, transmission and offtake partners

- Maintain historical and real time logs of all plant activities

- Is responsible for HES processes including Management of Change, safety manual, hazard communications, contractor management, fire safety, evacuation and safe working conditions, lockout/tagout

Competencies – What we’re looking for

Operational experience

- 10+ years of operating 10+ MWs power plants, chemical plants, refineries, or other complex industrial operations, with proven ability to safely and efficiently manage operational teams, equipment and services. Experience is preferred with operating geothermal power plants but is not required.

- Has managed a variety of plant turnarounds.

- Fluent in operational and engineering work at plant sites.

- Has proven experience at successful stakeholder relationships.

- Over time, this leader will build the corporate operating company under them that will include HES, engineering, procurement/warehouse and other operational/maintenance staff.

Negotiation skills

- Has managed bid processes and negotiated contracts for O&M services, consumables, electrical, civil, engineering and or other related physical projects.

- Has mitigated intra team conflict and generally inspires the best work out of internal and external team members.

Project management

- Has managed a variety of complex, simultaneous projects, such as well workovers or testing, feasibility studies, construction projects, etc.

- Has a track record of communicating complex information clearly that translates strategy into actionable project plans.