Power System Optimization Intern - Fall 2026/Spring 2027

Location: Houston, TX, United States Department: Engineering

This Opportunity

WSP USA hosts hundreds of internships across the United States to gain hands-on, meaningful work experience to enhance their education and professional aptitude. Our interns gain exposure to real projects while working side by side with senior staff. Through our Developing Professionals Network, interns gain mentorship, networking opportunities and lifelong career connections.

Our Power and Energy Team is seeking a Part-Time Power System Optimization Intern to work out of our Houston, TX office. This temporary position is seeking individuals currently enrolled in an Undergraduate or Graduate degree program.

This internship is anticipated to take place during the Fall 2026 / Spring 2026 semesters.

Your Impact

Support a variety of engineering tasks with the goal to develop technical, social, and ethical skills.

Develop and validate optimization models for various generation mixes including renewable energy systems such as solar PV, wind, battery storage, fuel cells, hybrid microgrids, and data centers.

Conduct power systems modeling for data centers, including UPS systems, generator integration, redundancy (e.g., N, N+1, 2N), and failure mode analysis.

Perform data center microgrids’ reliability, availability modeling (RAM) analysis.

Perform steady state and dynamic simulations, system level optimization, sensitivity analysis, and techno-economic evaluation of renewable and mission-critical power systems.

Evaluate energy infrastructure integration for grid-connected and islanded modes in both utility and data center applications.

Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams including engineering and project management.

Communicate technical results through clear documentation, reports, and stakeholder presentations.

Support white papers, and strategic energy systems operation and planning efforts.

Complete training on assigned tasks.

Exercise responsible and ethical decision-making regarding company funds, resources and conduct, and adhere to WSP’s Code of Conduct and related policies and procedures.

Perform additional responsibilities as required by business needs.

Please note that there is no relocation or housing assistance associated with this internship.

Who You Are

Required Qualifications

Actively enrolled in an accredited Electrical Engineering, with specialization in power and energy systems operation and planning or related, Undergraduate program with an anticipated graduation date of June 2026 or later.

Must be 18 or older.

Demonstrated interest in Electrical Engineering or related field, and have a strong desire to advance skills related to WSP’s work and projects.

Competent interpersonal and communication skills when interacting with others, expressing ideas effectively and professionally to an engineering and non-engineering audience.

Capable of taking direction from leadership, mentors, and managers to executive projects.

Basic proficiency with technical writing, office automation, software, spreadsheets, technology, and tools.

Proven track record of upholding workplace safety and ability to abide by WSP’s health, safety and drug/alcohol and harassment policies.

Authorization to work in the United States at the start of the internship

Preferred Qualifications

Currently pursuing a PhD in Electrical Engineering, with specialization in power and energy systems operation and planning.

Experience with microgrid operation and planning optimizations, system level reliability and resilience analysis, and battery energy storage applications.

Proficiency in Python for programming, numerical modeling, and data processing.

Experience with renewable energy integration, load flow analysis, power quality, and grid-tied inverter systems.

Experience with system dispatch modeling and revenue optimization of BESS systems in various ISO’s (ERCOT, CAISO, PJM, etc).

Knowledge of optimization problems (LP, MILP, NLP, etc.) and appropriate solvers (Gurobi, IPOPT, GLPK, etc.), and familiarity with AI/ML applications in power and energy systems.

Record of technical publications or presentations in energy systems operation, optimization, or planning.

Experience with power systems software tools such as PSSE and PSCAD for data center applications.