Virtual Power Plant (VPP) Acceleration Initiative Internship
The Bekenstein intern at CESA will support the Virtual Power Plants (VPP) Acceleration Initiative. The goal of the three-year VPP Acceleration Initiative is to accelerate the deployment of aggregated portfolios of flexible Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and advance grid reliability, affordability, and decarbonization nationwide. The initiative will fill critical capacity gaps for state governments by connecting, informing, and assisting state governments and other relevant stakeholders.
Clean energy deployment and financing rely on a bedrock of supportive state policies and programs, especially as the federal government actively retreats from its clean energy policy leadership role. States across the country are working to solve overlapping issues: maintaining grid reliability in the face of load growth, further curbing emissions and meeting their climate and decarbonization goals, and ensuring their constituents benefit from the clean energy transition by providing affordability and resilience tools, particularly for low-income and disadvantaged communities.
Demand flexibility and utilizing distributed generation in the form of VPPs are critical strategies to meet these goals. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, deploying 80 to 160 GW of VPPs by 2030 can reduce overall grid costs and represent 10% to 20% of US peak load or 3 to 5 times the VPP capacity installed to date, saving $10B in annual grid costs.
The intern will support several aspects of the VPP Acceleration Initiative, including efforts to provide program design and deployment capacity such as:
- Support project execution by creating accessible and tailored knowledge sharing resources, e.g., fact sheets and reports
- Research existing VPP programs and investigate their on-the-ground impact, challenges, and successes through desktop research and interviews
- Support ad-hoc consulting services for state energy agencies seeking to deploy new programs or modify existing programs
- Draft informational material for legislatures to learn about VPP programs and promote a standardized approach across the country
- Coordinate cross-agency cooperation and support the sharing of information across state energy offices, utility commissions, housing agencies, and agencies in charge of emergency management
Qualifications
Note: While we do not anticipate experts in the field, this position will not be well-suited for people with only very limited exposure to the clean energy industry as it will require absorbing and synthesizing large amounts of information to translate into actionable policy and/or clear information for state officials.
The ideal candidate will have:
- A solid understanding of state clean energy policy and the roles of key actors in the energy landscape
- Strong research and analysis skills, as well as written communication skills and a knack for translating complex concepts for lay audiences
- A proactive can-do attitude, strong attention to detail, and well-developed critical thinking skills
- A willingness and ability to quickly learn new skills and subject matters as needed
- The ability to work autonomously with experience in remote work environments
Timeline
Specific goals will be set at the start of the internship based on the needs expressed by the participating states at that time, the needs of the team, and the strengths of the selected intern.
By the end of the internship, the intern will have produced several written work products for state clients and created fact sheets to educate legislators on VPPs (front of the meter vs. back of the meter, bulk vs. distribution, grid services, ownership type etc.) or case studies reflecting on-the-ground impact of VPP programs. Work products will be based on research that the intern will lead, with feedback and input from supervisors, and may be made available publicly.
Such work products could include a grid services studies 101 guide, guidance for partnership development with utilities, case studies from leading states and utilities, model regulations, or other things.
Background
CESA (pronounced “seesah”) is a leading bipartisan US coalition of state energy agencies working together to advance the rapid expansion of clean energy technologies and bring the benefits of clean energy to all. Here is what a candidate should know about us:
- We are a very nice bunch of folks to work with.
- We are the connective tissue between state government staff working on clean energy (and only clean energy) nationwide.
- We are a member-supported organization and have 22 core members, but we work to support all states to deploy clean energy programs and policies in a bipartisan way.
- We do not take funding from industry. We are independent.
- Unless published, everything we do with states is confidential and team members, including interns, commit to respecting that confidentiality.
- We are a small organization with an outsized impact, in part because we prioritize activities that will benefit more than one state at a time.
- We’re primarily a remote organization.
- Deadlines do matter.
- We support states in deploying clean energy programs, particularly those that benefit low-income households and disadvantaged communities, but we do not preach to them.
- There has never been a more important time to support states in this work.
