The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is the nation's most effective environmental action organization. We use law, science and the support of 3.1 million members and online activists to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things. NRDC was founded in 1970 and our staff helped write some of America's bedrock environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act, and many of the implementing regulations; our water enforcement cases played a major role shaping current water policy throughout the country. Today, our staff of more than 500 lawyers, scientists, economists, policy and communications experts, and others, work out of offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Bozeman, Montana and Beijing.
NRDC is seeking a 3-month Distribution Grid Integration Policy Fellow to work with the Climate and Clean Energy team in our San Francisco office. This is a full-time, paid internship beginning in June 2018 and concluding in August 2018.
California is on the cutting edge of understanding how to integrate distributed energy resources into the grid, which is of growing importance as we make progress in moving toward significant levels of variable renewable resources. NRDC is also interested in the role of efficient electric technologies, such as heat pumps, to both decarbonized energy use and provide more flexible demand that can support renewable energy grid integration. NRDC is engaged in several proceedings at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California Energy Commission (CEC). These proceedings and related activities require examining distribution system reform, opportunities for modernizing the electricity grid, and tapping into flexible demand-side electric resources. California’s leadership in figuring out how to integrate a growing number of renewable resources, and how to evolve the role of distributed energy resources, will be an important model for regions. This fellowship will provide an excellent opportunity to explore these issues, which are fundamental to reaching global climate targets, as well as experience with advocacy at the CPUC and CEC, and exposure to the range of stakeholders engaged on clean energy issues in California.
The Distribution Grid Integration Policy Fellow will work with NRDC staff on the following activities:
- Support NRDC work at the CPUC to better value and plan for distributed energy resources (DERs).
- Assess the availability of, cost of and potential for “renewable” gas to replace fossil gas in homes and buildings. This includes an analysis of power-to-gas technology and its role in grid management and providing seasonal storage.
- Review CPUC and CEC proceeding documents, attend workshops, and help prepare NRDC formal comments for relevant CPUC and CEC proceedings.
- Other activities as needed related to valuing and integrated DERs into the electric system; the policy venues we work in (CPUC, CEC, CAISO and legislature) change quickly and a portion of the fellow’s time will need to be flexible to respond to changes/developments as they arise.
- Strong writing skills
- Ability to absorb new information quickly and communicate it to diverse audiences
- Understanding of how the grid functions (basic understanding required, to be developed further)