Solid Fuels Buyer

Job Summary

Location: Stockton, CA

The position will assist the Plant Manager, Asset Management, and Operations teams in identifying, structuring, sourcing, negotiating, procuring, and transporting of biomass fuel consisting of agricultural and urban waste materials for their assigned facility. In addition, this position will be responsible for ensuring cost effective ash disposal in conjunction with the ash management plan.  

The Fuel Buyer is responsible for working with both internal and external stakeholders to develop multiple vendors for fuel supply and disposal or beneficial reuse of ash. This person is expected to develop, update, and maintain the fuel and ash plans for the duration of the power purchase agreement and ensure that performance is consistent with the plans. This position is also responsible for administering the fuel procurement software (3log) for proper vendor payments and consistent quality, inventory, and financial data reporting.  

The Fuel Buyer is expected to ensure fuel quality standards are met, optimize plant performance, and support fuel yard management to ensure efficient and reliable operation from the receipt of fuel through the delivery of fuel to the boiler. In addition, this person is responsible to monitor and ensure ash silo levels are managed to optimize trucking and disposal costs while meeting operational requirements for capacity.

The Fuel Buyer will be expected to comply with all DTE Vantage safety processes, the DTE Code of Conduct and the On-=Site Energy BU Administrative Guidelines.

Key Accountabilities

• Ensure that the plant has adequate supplies of fuel to sustain reliable operation.  Fuel must meet quality and cost expectations
• Ensure onsite and third-party quality testing and fuel sampling and reporting are performed as scheduled and reviewed and distributed to all applicable parties
• Develop fuel plan with detailed annual forecast and budget for ash and fuel, updated quarterly; include 5-year market forecast developed in conjunction with asset management
• Identify, implement, and ensure low-cost disposal or beneficial reuse options for ash
• Negotiate with counterparties to successfully structure procurement, transportation, storage, and other commercial agreements needed to satisfy fuel and ash plans and actively manage contracts to ensure counterparty performance and maximize value creation 
• Verify accounts receivable and accounts payable relating to fuel procurement and ash disposal
• Administer 3log software and perform analysis of fuel supply to ensure proper material tracking for both quality and cost. Develop and distribute relevant reports to stakeholders
• Perform inspections and quality control assessments of fuel suppliers at their location on a frequent and unplanned basis to ensure processes meet quality requirements
• Coordinate and manage invasive species programs, including compliance plans as appropriate to support the overall approved fuel plan
• Control fuel inventory (onsite, offsite and vendor owned) to support plant operations including pile management to comply with industry best practices and environmental permit limits
• Establish and oversee process to ensure all fuel suppliers and transportation providers have the proper insurance requirements and records are maintained. Enforce compliance with safety and environmental standards when on site
• Manage beneficial reuse of ash planning and development in coordination with plant leadership, EH&S Specialist, and Environmental
• Schedule quarterly/annual ash testing to minimize cost impact of disposal to coincide with planned outages
• Performs all other related duties as assigned

Minimum Education & Experience Requirements

• High School Diploma or equivalent and knowledge and capabilities typically acquired through at least 5 years of relevant professional experience, or
• Associate degree or industry-recognized certificate (i.e., the completion of a core group of course designated by the institution) in a related discipline is preferred and knowledge and capabilities typically acquired through at least 3 years of relevant professional experience, or
• Bachelor’s degree in a related discipline with a minimum of 2 years of relevant professional experience

Other Qualifications

• The candidate should have a commercial background and be familiar with various aspects of the agricultural practices, wood recycling/processing, and wood transportation industry
• Proven ability to develop and maintain strong relationship with wood suppliers, transporters, and recovery customers
• Knowledge of power plant fuel management procedures and processes
• Demonstrated history of developing and crafting fuel procurement and transportation agreements or similar contracts
• Experience managing waste recovery yards or fuel yards desired
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to analyze and communicate tasks, needs, activities, and follow-up actions to relevant stakeholders
• Ability to take initiative and prioritize competing priorities
• Team player, ability to lead and/or work within cross-functional teams
• Ability to travel as necessary in the local area daily and overnight up to 15%
• Ability to function and when necessary to influence others within a matrix organization in which functional and business leaders have equal authority within the organization and employees report to both a functional leader and a business leader

Physical Demands & Working Conditions

The physical demands characterized here epitomize those that must be met by an employee to properly perform the integral functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. In order to properly perform the integral functions of this job, the employee is required to:

• Occasionally stand or walk and stoop or kneel. Frequently, the employee is required to sit 
• Talk or hear, both in person and by telephone; use wrists, hands and/or fingers in a repetitive motion; and reach with hands and arms extensively
• Occasionally lift objects of up to 50 pounds in weight
• Use computers with exposure to video display terminals; and some repetitive motion associated with data entry, the use of a computer mouse, and while using other office equipment
• Vision requirements for this position include close vision, color vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust focus

The employee performs job duties in a business office setting from a climate-controlled office environment, with a moderate noise level, and at an industrial site, where the noise level is moderate to loud. The individual may also be exposed to chemicals and odors consistent with waste materials. The individual may at times work near mechanical moving parts. They may work in elevated areas, around fumes or airborne particles, outdoor weather conditions and extreme heat. The individual may spend many hours driving as stakeholders may be broadly dispersed over a large geographical area.

Additional Information

Incumbents may engage in all or some combination of the activities and accountabilities, and utilize a variety of the competencies cited in this description depending upon the organization and role to which they are assigned. This description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by incumbents in this job. It is not intended as an all-inclusive list of accountabilities or responsibilities, nor is it intended to limit the rights of supervisors or management representatives to assign, direct and control the work of employees under their supervision.