What: The Policy Advisor is a key member of the Infrastructure and Energy Team and reports to the Assistant Director for Infrastructure. This position will support the management and implementation of policies and programs that enhance the resiliency of energy supply to New York City (NYC) and facilitate the deployment of resilient and sustainable distributed generation and community energy solutions in NYC.
Specifically, this role will advise on how NYC distributed generation programs, initiatives and policies can maximize potential co-benefits across resiliency, sustainability and economic development, including the role of district energy, CHP, microgrids and other innovative technologies, across generation, distributing and software (e.g., enabling platforms).
This role will also support the development of policy and initiatives to enhance NYC energy supply resiliency and reliability by conducting data analysis and research, drafting relevant reports and memos, and providing support on relevant legislative and City Council-related tasks and queries.
The Policy Advisor will work closely with other teams at ORR, and the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, the New York City Economic Development Corporation and NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA) to ensure relevant policy and program goals are aligned. This position may also represent ORR in relevant meetings with external stakeholders, including community groups, funding organizations and other local and State partners. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Serve as ORR liaison for community energy, district energy and microgrid projects where the City has a role (e.g., Hunts Point, NY Prize projects), including leading coordination with other agencies, ensuring project alignment with ORR and City policies and priorities, drafting presentations, memos and reports, exploring grant and other relevant funding opportunities, researching and recommending best practices.
- Manage the development and deployment of the community energy planning public-facing web tool, including managing stakeholder engagement, cataloguing and refining data inputs and working with internal agencies such as the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications and the Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics to release a live version of the tool.
- Lead and manage the Community Energy Collaborative, which brings together key external stakeholders to facilitate collaboration and coordination with respect to developing implementing community energy and microgrid projects, including leveraging member expertise and roles to develop an enabling policy and business environment for these projects.
- Identify and coordinate new opportunities and projects to facilitate community-based energy planning and systems, including fostering relationships with external stakeholders and City agencies such as NYCHA, Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and Department of City Planning, and examine the potential role and application of public-private partnerships.
- Assess existing and research new policies, incentives and other mechanisms at the City, State and Federal level to support the deployment of resilient and sustainable energy technologies, including identifying opportunities to apply them in the NYC context.
- Conduct data management and qualitative and quantitative analysis of policies related to resilient distributed generation, including storage and solar+storage projects, standby/emergency generators, CHP, fuel cells, microgrids.
- Special projects and other duties as assigned.
Qualifications:
- A bachelor’s degree with 3 to 5 years of full-time professional experience in a relevant field.
- A background in energy policy and/or city planning or a graduate degree from an accredited college in energy, environmental policy, engineering, environmental science, public administration, public policy, urban planning or closely related field.
- An understanding of climate change, energy policy, markets and technologies and how they apply to New York City.
- An awareness of existing national, state and local policies and trends aimed at supporting resilient, sustainable distributed generation.
- Excellent data analysis skills and familiarity with Excel. Experience working with large datasets, proficiency in statistical and analytical software, geographic information systems (GIS), and desktop publishing a plus.
- Strong communication skills, including ability to communicate technical topics in a clear, concise manner.
- Excellent organizational, program management and interpersonal skills.
- Familiarity with New York City and its communities a plus.
Find the online job posting and apply here.