Wind Community Planning and Equity- Year-Round Graduate Intern
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado is the nation’s primary laboratory for research, development, and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. NREL emphasizes a well-integrated, interdisciplinary team approach to addressing the unique, fundamental research challenges for developing market-relevant, renewable energy technologies.
NREL’s National Wind Technology Center located at our Flatirons Campus between Golden and Boulder, CO has an immediate opening for a graduate intern to support our wind energy stakeholder engagement and outreach research portfolio. The ideal candidate will be experienced in or actively researching community engagement and planning, policy, and economic development. A research emphasis on rural development and planning is desirable. Further, knowledge of and familiarity with the literature around energy equity as it relates to community planning and economic development from wind energy is also valued. For these projects and this position, energy equity generally refers to supporting an equitable (or just) clean energy transition that includes and prioritizes economic and social participation in the transition of underserved or disadvantaged communities.
This position will work with the internal team supporting a variety of customers including the US Department of Energy Wind Energy Technologies Office. They may also work collaboratively with other National Laboratories and industry partners. The minimum appointment duration is 8 months, but the position can be extended. During summer, the internship is full time. During the school semester, the number of work hours are reduced to account for other academic responsibilities.
More specifically, the successful candidate will support several projects including the planning and convening of workshops or similar forums, contributing to original research, analysis, and written publications and sharing information within and outside of NREL. They will also leverage community engagement and analysis skills to understand barriers to wind energy deployment. Typical tasks may include:
- Research including literature review and synthesis on life cycle processes related to renewable energy permitting and regulation.
- Leading and supporting economic analysis on energy equity and collaborating with other researchers across NREL as appropriate.
- Assisting in writing publication quality reports analyzing energy policy, siting, and economic development issues.
- Conducting outreach to communities, local/state representatives, and subject matter experts.
- Collaborating with researchers and practitioners across NREL on best practices for effectively integrating energy equity in projects, programs, or initiatives.
- Developing resources to support knowledge sharing between communities.
The graduate intern is expected to demonstrate a broad understanding of social science, policy, and economic development principles, theories, and concepts as well as general knowledge of disciplines and applications related to renewable or wind energy. Further, the successful candidate will be driven, organized, have excellent written and verbal communication skills, and thrive working independently and in a group setting.
.
Basic Qualifications
Bachelor’s Degree and within a year of graduation, or currently enrolled in a graduate program in community/urban planning, policy, sociology and related. Internship period cannot exceed 12 months past graduation. Minimum of a 3.0 cumulative grade point average.
Please Note:
•You will need to upload official or unofficial school transcripts as part of the application process.
•If selected for position, a letter of recommendation will be required as part of the hiring process.
.
Additional Required Qualifications
- Demonstrated desire to contribute to the literature on energy equity in the clean energy transition.
- Relevant coursework or experience in relevant discipline or field, including economics, energy policy, public policy, planning, energy ethics, resilience, regulation, decarbonization, sustainability, climate mitigation, or other relevant fields.
Preferred Qualifications
- Demonstrated skill in convening a stakeholder group and planning a workshop, likely in a virtual environment.
- Prior experience applying research as well as scientific methods or frameworks for energy equity to communities.
- Prior experience through research or stakeholder engagement with underserved communities.
- Experience with economic analysis applied to community development.