Career Details
11-3051.04 - Biomass Power Plant Managers
Manage operations at biomass power generation facilities. Direct work activities at plant, including supervision of operations and maintenance staff.
Key Facts

Tasks

Core
- Manage parts and supply inventories for biomass plants.
- Monitor and operate communications systems, such as mobile radios.
- Supervise operations or maintenance employees in the production of power from biomass, such as wood, coal, paper sludge, or other waste or refuse.
- Review logs, datasheets, or reports to ensure adequate production levels and safe production environments or to identify abnormalities with power production equipment or processes.
- Review biomass operations performance specifications to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
- Prepare reports on biomass plant operations, status, maintenance, and other information.
- Prepare and manage biomass plant budgets.
- Plan and schedule plant activities, such as wood, waste, or refuse fuel deliveries, ash removal, and regular maintenance.
- Inspect biomass gasification processes, equipment, and facilities for ways to maximize capacity and minimize operating costs.
- Evaluate power production or demand trends to identify opportunities for improved operations.
- Supervise biomass plant or substation operations, maintenance, repair, or testing activities.
- Conduct field inspections of biomass plants, stations, or substations to ensure normal and safe operating conditions.
- Manage safety programs at power generation facilities.
Supplemental
- Test, maintain, or repair electrical power distribution machinery or equipment, using hand tools, power tools, and testing devices.
- Compile and record operational data on forms or in log books.
- Adjust equipment controls to generate specified amounts of electrical power.
- Shut down and restart biomass power plants or equipment in emergency situations or for equipment maintenance, repairs, or replacements.
- Operate controls to start, stop, or regulate biomass-fueled generators, generator units, boilers, engines, or auxiliary systems.
- Monitor the operating status of biomass plants by observing control system parameters, distributed control systems, switchboard gauges, dials, or other indicators.
Knowledge

- 86%Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
- 82%Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
- 81%Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- 81%Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- 77%Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
- 74%Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
- 72%Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
- 72%Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- 71%Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- 69%Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- 67%Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
- 67%Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- 64%Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
- 64%Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub- atomic structures and processes.
- 63%Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- 62%Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
- 57%Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- 57%Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
- 56%Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
- 53%Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- 53%Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Tools

- Biomass boilers
- Bubbling fluidized bed boilers
- Circulating fluidized bed boilers
- Steam boilers
- Cooling towers
- Desktop computers
- Laptop computers
- Personal computers
- Heat recovery steam generators
- Radial stackers
- Steam turbines
- Water samplers
- Wood feed systems
Technology

- Computer aided design CAD softwareHOT
- Computerized maintenance management system CMMS
- Distributed control system DCS
- Employee scheduling software
- Microsoft ExcelHOT
- Microsoft PowerPointHOT
- Microsoft WordHOT
- Inventory control software
- Microsoft OfficeHOT
- Microsoft OutlookHOT
Certifications

- Biosolids Land Appliers Class II Manager2805 SW Snyder Blvd, Suite 535, Ankeny, IA 50023.
- TS: Managing Projects with Microsoft Project 2010One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399
- Public Power Customer Service Manager1875 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 1200 Washington, DC 20009-5715202-467-2900
- Public Power Manager1875 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 1200 Washington, DC 20009-5715202-467-2900
- Public Power Governance Certificate Program1875 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 1200 Washington, DC 20009-5715202-467-2900
- Energy Efficiency Management Certificate Program1875 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 1200 Washington, DC 20009-5715202-467-2900
Licensing

Related Programs

Clicking on the Degree programs in the list below will take you away from the Careers page.
The School of Accounting enjoys a national reputation for excellence in accounting education and is viewed as a prime recruiting school by accounting employers throughout the mid-Atlantic region. The school offers a Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) degree and a Master of Science in Accounting (M.S.A.). Most students choose to receive both degrees and thereby satisfy the 150 semester hours of education required in most states to be eligible to sit for the CPA exam.
Several features of the accounting program are distinctive:
- Outstanding employment opportunities.
- A post-graduation CPA exam review course offered on campus.
- Opportunities for internships.
The B.B.A. degree with a major in finance requires a minimum of 120 credit hours of undergraduate course work. Fifty percent of this work, or 60 credit hours, must be taken outside of the College of Business. In counting the 60 credit hours of non-business courses, students may include all hours taken in General Education, up to a total of nine hours in economics (ECON courses must be counted as economics), and three hours of COB 191. Business Analytics I. The remaining hours, to bring the total to 60, must be taken from any department outside the College of Business. Students should carefully select these non-business electives to help them gain additional knowledge and expertise for their careers and personal lives.
Students enrolled at James Madison University who wish to change their major to finance should go to the Student Center in MyMadison to submit a request. Students must be in good academic standing to change their major to finance and, if they have taken any FIN prefix courses at the time of the change request, must meet the prerequisites for the required courses in the finance major.
Students who plan to major in finance and earn a score on the Math Placement Exam sufficient for placement into MATH 235 are strongly encouraged to enroll in MATH 235.
Required major courses provide finance majors with a foundation in financial management, investments and institutions. Electives within the major permit students to obtain an additional emphasis and explore other areas within the field of finance.
The international business major is part of the nationally recognized JMU College of Business. Most business, government, and not-for-profit enterprises operate today in a global environment. Success is more certain for those who are aware of events and cultures outside of their own. The program's goal is to equip students with the ability to work comfortably in multiple areas of the global marketplace through interdisciplinary study. International business majors take specialized courses in all the business disciplines (e.g. international accounting, international marketing) as well as courses in a foreign language.
To ensure success, competency in a second language and thorough exposure to a chosen second culture are graduation requirements. In addition, study abroad or a one semester international internship is required and must be integrated into the student's schedule. The requirements of the major are designed to allow students to choose an optional concentration in finance or marketing, and some international business majors also declare a second major such as foreign language or another business area.
Management skills are broadly applicable and our graduates go on to a wide range of professions in both the public and private sector. The major is also designed to help those thinking of starting their own business or aiding a family business. Finally, many students find the broad business training of the management major a helpful foundation for future graduate study.
As part of the nationally recognized JMU College of Business, the marketing major prepares students to assume professional and leadership roles in the rapidly changing, technically-oriented and competitive world of marketing by helping students develop specialized skills in the management of customer relationships through the creation, communication and delivery of value to customers. The curriculum provides a solid foundation of the knowledge and skills needed to develop effective marketing efforts. The major offers a concentration in Professional Sales and an area of emphasis in Digital Marketing.
Students gain knowledge and experience through general education courses, the College of Business core curriculum, and the marketing major with various combinations of required and elective marketing courses. Marketing faculty and staff work with students in small classes and individually to help them build leadership and team skills. Strong connections are made between in-class study and the business world through experiential course projects, case studies, simulations, independent studies and internships.
Marketing majors conform to the general structure of the B.B.A. degree program. The B.B.A. degree in marketing requires a minimum of 120 credit hours of undergraduate course work.
As part of the nationally recognized JMU College of Business, the economics major fosters an understanding and appreciation of economic forms of explanation and their relationships to other social sciences. The major will provide students with an intellectual foundation for the appreciation and understanding of economic theory and policy that stresses the importance of imaginative thinking, free inquiry and the pursuit of life-long learning. In this way, the program prepares students with the economic literacy necessary to cope with the challenges inherent in a world of accelerating change.
Economics majors are generally educated students, who go on to develop their analytical, investigative and research skills. With this major, students will use their understanding of economics relationships and markets to work for manufacturing firms, financial services firms, consulting firms, the health care industries, government agencies and nonprofit organizations. Economists with strong statistical backgrounds conduct research, analyze data and develop forecasts. Students with a good background in this field are competitive in the job market.
Purpose: This curriculum is designed for individuals who plan to transfer to a four-year college or university to complete a baccalaureate degree program in business administration with a major in accounting, business management, decision science and management, information systems, finance, marketing, etc.
A major in business offers students the opportunity to explore theories and concepts from accounting, business, and economics. Students study in an active learning environment and begin to understand and appreciate the complex nature of business organizations through applied economic theory. A major in business prepares students for a career in all business environments and provides an excellent foundation for graduate studies in such fields as business and law. The major in business requires a common core of courses plus one of three concentrations: Finance, Management, or Marketing. All courses in the core and in each concentration must be completed with a grade of C- or better.
A major in business offers students the opportunity to explore theories and concepts from accounting, business, and economics. Students study in an active learning environment and begin to understand and appreciate the complex nature of business organizations through applied economic theory. A major in business prepares students for a career in all business environments and provides an excellent foundation for graduate studies in such fields as business and law. The major in business requires a common core of courses plus one of three concentrations: Finance, Management, or Marketing. All courses in the core and in each concentration must be completed with a grade of C- or better.
The study of accounting at Randolph-Macon College provides students with the opportunity to become fluent in the language of business within the unique setting of a liberal arts education. Students study accounting in an active learning environment incorporating theories and concepts from the fields of accounting, business, and economics. They learn to understand and appreciate the complex nature of business organizations. A major in accounting prepares students for a career in all business environments and provides an excellent foundation for graduate studies in such fields as accounting, business, taxation, and law. All courses in the major and minor must be completed with a grade of C- or better.
A major in business offers students the opportunity to explore theories and concepts from accounting, business, and economics. Students study in an active learning environment and begin to understand and appreciate the complex nature of business organizations through applied economic theory. A major in business prepares students for a career in all business environments and provides an excellent foundation for graduate studies in such fields as business and law. The major in business requires a common core of courses plus one of three concentrations: Finance, Management, or Marketing. All courses in the core and in each concentration must be completed with a grade of C- or better.
Students with a baccalaureate degree who wish to pursue the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination may use specific course work toward fulfillment of accounting educational requirements. Some course work also meets federal government guidelines for those interested in qualifying for positions or promotions in the federal government. Students should consult an accounting instructor to determine the courses that meet the educational requirements.
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The certificate programs provide course work that gives students the skills to sit for one or more certification exams administered by the Accreditation Council for Accountancy and Taxation (ACAT).
Students completing the A.A.S. in Management have opportunities to transfer to four-year universities to pursue B.S. degrees in Business Administration, Management, and related areas. See https://www.tcc.edu/programs/transfer/transfer-agreements/ for agreements.
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Admission to the Engineering program requires satisfactory completion of the following high school units or their equivalents: four units of English; four units of mathematics (two units of algebra, one unit of plane geometry, one unit of advanced mathematics or trigonometry and solid geometry); one unit of laboratory science; and one unit of social studies.
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Engineering courses required for the Engineering degree are available at the Chesapeake and Virginia Beach campuses.
Graduates of the maritime logistics program may enter or continue employment in the field of logistics management in maritime or traditional business environments.