William Armstrong

Senior System Protection Automation and Control Engineer, Pe @San Diego Gas & Electric

San Diego, CA, US

As a System Protection, Controls and Automation Engineer at SDG & E, I contribute to the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of the electric grid by analyzing, maintaining, designing and optimizing advanced power system protection schemes and control systems across substation and distribution networks.Key Responsibilities:• Engineer and maintain protective relay schemes for substations and distribution lines, ensuring compliance with SDG & E standards and NERC reliability requirements.• Conduct fault analysis, relay protection coordination studies, and system modeling using tools such as ASPEN, Synergi, SEL AcSELerator, NMS, PI Vision, SPARC, Cascade, Enoserv Powerbase, etc. delivering accurate relay settings and coordination to safeguard critical infrastructure protection.• Support commissioning, testing, and troubleshooting of protection and control equipment such as service reclosers, padmount switchgear, and various other switch types that include SEL, Siemens, S&C, Eaton, and ABB, relays.• Collaborate with planning, operations, and field teams to support capital projects, system upgrades, and emergency response efforts while diagnosing and resolving complex issues to maintain seamless operations.• Provide day to day supervision, coaching, training and development for peers and less experienced technicians and engineers.• Cross-Functional Collaboration working closely with system operators, engineering teams, relay technicians, and SCADA specialists to deliver high-quality, timely solutions to coordinate relay testing and maintenance activities without disrupting grid operations.• Analyze the root causes of any test failures and recommend corrective actions to prevent future issues.• Microgrid development leading efforts to integrate distributed energy resources (DERs) and renewable generation into existing protection schemes.• Perform functional testing of relay systems to verify they operate correctly in actual operational conditions.

San Diego City College

Associate's Degree, Engineering

UC San Diego

Bachelor's Degree, Electrical and Electronics Engineering