November 14, 2024

How’d you get here, Zac Johnson?

Zac Johnson recently took on new responsibility as Solar Supervisor at the Axial Basin solar site under construction in northwest Colorado. This a new position on the generation team, and while it will continue to evolve as we learn more, we are excited to share more about the role and Zac’s career insights, including 13 years with Tri-State.

The Solar Supervisor is responsible for keeping the solar facilities running safely and reliably. Johnson will oversee the monitoring, operations, troubleshooting, and maintenance for equipment at our Axial Basin solar facility. He will work closely with the Plant Manager to ensure operational efficiency and compliance with safety and environmental standards. This is a supervisory position that will oversee a team of technicians guiding their work and assisting with career decisions. The role requires skills in operations, electrical maintenance, instrument and control, and mechanical maintenance.

Tri-State’ new solar supervisor Zac Johnson and his wife Betty.

Let’s learn more from Zac Johnson …

What are you most excited about for the new Solar Supervisor role?

Being part of a project from start to finish and seeing everything come together piece by piece is exciting. I get to gain knowledge from communicating with the teams building the site and observing how things are done. This is going to be very beneficial moving forward as we at Tri-State take over the operations and maintenance at the site and begin to build our own process moving forward with the solar site.

How does your work connect with Tri-State’s strategy?

This new solar site connects to Tri-State’s strategy by adding a bit more reliability to our generation resources as we try and work our way over the hurdles given to us with the reduction of carbon emissions moving towards 2030. The solar field will not come close to covering generation losses from the units at Craig Station, but every little bit will help as we move forward. 

What was your first job (or an early job)? What did you take away from that experience that you use today?

One of my first jobs was working at a local tire shop in Nucla, Colorado during high school. That early work experience in life was a big influence on not being afraid of getting your hands dirty.

What was the best career advice you’ve received and from whom?

When I was a kid, my dad told me “If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing right.” 

Have you learned things at work that apply to your life outside work?

Tri-State has been a great source of knowledge, whether it be the journeyman employees I have had the opportunity to work with or the apprenticeship training that has been offered. During my time as an electrician/Instrument and Controls Tech, the experience taught me everything I needed to know for the job I did for Tri-State and plenty to carry over to life outside of work. From things as simple as calculating electrical circuits or going through electric motors and control circuits for troubleshooting, to programming programmable logic controllers (PLCs) or other control systems that our new “smart” world is heading towards.

What are you looking forward to learning or doing in your career?

I look forward to learning the smaller or more in-depth details that come with solar generation on a large utility scale.

What are your passions or hobbies outside of work?

Outside of work I enjoy spending time with my family, we like to camp, hunt, and fish.