Clean Energy Intern - Disadvantaged Communities

The Clean Energy Intern will contribute to the development and implementation of New York’s Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act (CLCPA) which adopts the most ambitious climate and clean energy agenda in the country. The CLCPA establishes aggressive targets to fully transition New York State to a green energy economy and provides a framework to ensure that the transition is equitable and just across all sectors. The applicant will interact with senior staff at the Department of Public Service through briefings on project development and implementation. 

Applicants should be enrolled in a graduate program and possess the following:

• Desire to work in the clean energy sector, supporting renewable energy, energy efficiency, building electrification, electric vehicle charging and distributed energy resource technologies
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong attention to detail and organization skills
• Strong skills in generating actionable insights from data through a combination of quantitative analysis and qualitative interpretation

Duties Description:

The Clean Energy Intern will focus on the Disadvantaged Communities (DAC) requirements of the Climate Leadership and Communities Protection Act (CLCPA) as they pertain to actions of the New York State Public Service Commission (Commission) and activities of the New York State Department of Public Service (Department). 

The CLCPA requires the Commission to design programs in a manner to provide substantial benefits for disadvantaged communities, including low to moderate income customers, at a reasonable cost while ensuring safe and reliable electric service.[1]  Specifically, to the extent practicable, the Commission must direct available programmatic resources in such a manner that disadvantaged communities receive a target of 40 percent, with no less than 35 percent, of the overall benefits of spending on clean energy and energy efficiency programs, projects or investments.

Additionally, the CLCPA requires all State agencies to ensure that their decisions will not “disproportionately burden disadvantaged communities” and to “prioritize reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and co-pollutants in disadvantaged communities.”

The Commission/Department have taken steps to begin this work. The Clean Energy Intern will be a critical team member in further advancing this work.  Activities will include, but not be limited to: 

• Assisting in the development of the requisite tracking and reporting mechanisms to ensure DAC Benefits tracking and reporting in compliance with the law. 
• Participating in the Energy Equity Collaborative which seeks to engage key external stakeholders that serve and represent historically marginalized or otherwise disadvantaged communities to provide guidance, feedback and recommendations to NYSERDA, which will coordinate with other State agencies in the Low Income Energy Task Force as needed, on the development of climate and energy programs and on issues related to environmental justice, workforce development, energy affordability, and clean energy deployment.
• Baselining current Commission authorized programs for compliance against the DAC metric.
• Reviewing the current suite of Commission authorized programs and proposed modifications to further benefits to DACs.  Providing direction, as needed, to program administrators (utilities and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority), developing recommendations for Commission action, and identifying appropriate measures to employ to hold program administrators accountable for the expected outcomes. 
• While DACs are not synonymous with low-income, they are closely linked.  Therefore, the Clean Energy Intern will also support the Commission/Department’s work in overseeing the various low-income energy efficiency and building electrification programs. 
• Participating/conducting various stakeholder engagement processes, including the review and synthesis of information provided through written public comment processes or public hearings. 

Responsibilities & Deliverables:

• Developing briefing materials describing the current state of programs benefiting DACs.
• Developing recommendations for improvements to current suite of programs as well as identification of gaps in programming that should be considered.
• Developing metrics that can be tracked and goals to be assigned to better align DAC and LMI programming with the policy outcomes as identified in the CLCPA. 
• Assisting in drafting of Department-issued Guidance Documents and/or Commission Orders.

Additional Information:

Salary:                                    Undergraduate Interns earn $19.10 per hour;                                                            Graduate Interns earn $21.22/hour.

Hours:                                     Up to 37.5 hours per week. 

Office Location:                       3 Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York.

Remote Work:                         A hybrid work schedule may be possible.

How to apply: Please send your resume and cover letter to recruiting@dps.ny.gov and reference “Clean Energy Internship: Disadvantaged Communities – Summer 2026”

[1] The CLCPA defines “disadvantaged communities” as “communities that bear burdens of negative public health effects, environmental pollution, impacts of climate change, and possess certain socioeconomic criteria, or comprise high-concentrations of low- and moderate-income households, as identified pursuant to section 75-0111 of [the Environmental Conservation Law (ECL)].”