Clean Energy States Alliance

Clean Energy States Alliance: Scaling Up Solar for Under-Resourced Communities

OPEN TO RETURNING YALE GRADUATE/PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL AND RETURNING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

About the Clean Energy States Alliance:

The Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) is a leading bipartisan coalition of states working together to advance the rapid expansion of clean energy technologies and bring the benefits of clean energy to all. We work with our members to develop and implement effective clean energy policies and programs. Our Vision is to ensure that state-led efforts advance a just transition to 100% clean energy by 2050.

CESA’s members—primarily state energy agencies representing 18 states and the District of Columbia—include many of the nation’s most innovative, successful, and influential implementers of clean energy policies. Together, CESA and its members perform an essential role in moving the nation from fossil-fueled electricity generation to affordable clean energy.

The opportunity:

The Scaling Up Solar for Under-Resourced Communities Project helps states accelerate the development of solar projects that benefit Low- and Moderate-Income (LMI) communities. After an initial project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in 2019 to support distinct subsets of the LMI solar market, CESA recently shifted focus to helping states design and deploy solar programs under the $7B Solar for All Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). EPA’s selection decisions are expected in March 2024. 

Award announcements will lead to a flurry of state activity, including design and planning work to deploy the funding through both new and existing programs. Building on work to date supporting states’ Solar for All (SFA) applications and design work across the country, including CESA members and non-CESA member states, the CESA team is working on supporting SFA program implementation. The summer intern would support that work.

CESA’s work includes (a) technical assistance on program design for states building new LMI solar programs or updating existing solar programs to meet EPA’s requirements under Solar for All, (b) resource and knowledge sharing activities including dedicated working groups and office hours, and (c) producing tools or research for states and other market actors. 

Specific topics that an intern may work on will depend on the intern’s skills and interests, as well as on states’ requests and needs. Topics could include helping states communicate about S4A programs, researching best practices for consumer protection in solar, supporting the design of individual states’ solar programs for single-family homes solar, community solar, manufactured homes solar, or solar for multifamily affordable housing, researching state activities on workforce development to help the speedy deployment of SFA programs, organizing working groups to investigate questions that multiple states are asking in the context of SFA (e.g., on solar finance or federal regulatory compliance), coordinating technical assistance activities with federal agencies and national labs, and others.

The intern will report to the Senior Project Director for Solar and Offshore Wind, Vero Bourg-Meyer.

Location:

This can be either entirely remote, or hybrid with an opportunity to work out of CESA’s office in Montpelier, VT.

How to apply:

Please submit:

  • your resume
  • a cover letter (no more than 2 pages) to include:
    • your interest in this project
    • any relevant background/experience
    • why you believe this work is important
    • share any important identity or identities you hold. Note that this is completely optional. Examples of identities that may be important to you might include (but are not limited to): gender, race, ethnicity, political affiliation, generation, education level, cultural identity, occupation, sexuality, family structure, housing status, mental health (health status/ability), incarceration status, institution affiliation, primary language, religion, immigration status, medical history, first-generation, income/ socio-economic class, quality of education, occupation, and/or parent's education.

Please email the above directly to Vero Bourg-Meyer (vero@cleanegroup.org) and Warren Leon (wleon@cleanegroup.org) with “CBEY Planetary Solutions Internship Program in Clean Energy/CESA” in the subject line. Please also copy cbey@yale.edu.

Application deadline is 11:59 PM ET on February 19th, 2024.