Most people I know expect the light switch to work every time they flip it, but few understand that there is an army of around-the-clock workers throughout the country making that happen. At Iberdrola Renewables, at any given time, a trio of real-time traders huddled behind lots of computers is making it work. With phones pre-programmed to speed dial every utility in the region and a wall of monitors displaying the constant dance between generation and consumption, the team connects the dots.
Each of us is not alone. A 24-hour forecasting desk and a team of control center operators share the dynamics of the job and the lifestyle. We commute to work when others begin their happy hour and rest our heads when others brew their coffee. It’s either day shift, night shift or the beloved day off. The desk never shuts down and neither does the cash flow.
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We call it the slow grinder – aka. ‘Mr. Steady’ on the daily Profit and Loss report. While violent swings in the forward pricing curve for natural gas futures drive the underlying price for term power, Mr. Steady grinds away each hour of the day. We navigate excess wind power to the best bid in the region, sometimes requiring multiple legs of transmission and an end customer in a different state or province. Counterparties ranging from California, Canada, Arizona and Montana, greet our phone calls with confidence that the wind they buy will allow them reduce their more expensive generation. 
When the wind shifts, the meteorologist interrupts his dinner to decipher the high resolution models to prepare the team for the changes. We hear terms like “mountain waking” or “ridge building” in a scientific description of Mother Nature at work. All we traders really want to hear is “the number”. This coveted number is a summation of all the generation estimates in our portfolio of wind assets. We trade our Northwest fleet in a netted portfolio where one farms over generation is allowed to cover for another farms under generation. When they all move together, we move fast.
With speed as our friend and effectiveness as our ally, schedules can change quicker than our kids into their pajamas. Our families know to send texts rather than to call our phones in case we are in a high speed schedule adjustment. At the end of each storm there is calm. Restroom breaks or trips to the café are regularly on hold until the coveted calm in the shift. Like firefighters at ease in the fire house, the calm can be broken with a moment’s notice.
Real-time traders are sliced from a different loaf of bread. The schedule that demands our nights, weekends and holidays eventually opens up to allow for fishing, travelling and assorted adventures. I may never fully describe what I do for a living to my friends or family, but the smile on my face tells them what they need to know.
