From day one at NREL, you’ll connect with coworkers driven by the same mission to save the planet. By joining an organization that values a supportive, inclusive, and flexible work environment, you’ll have the opportunity to engage through our ten employee resource groups, numerous employee-driven clubs, and learning and professional development classes.
NREL supports inclusive, diverse, and unbiased hiring practices that promote creativity and innovation. By collaborating with organizations that focus on diverse talent pools, reaching out to underrepresented demographics, and providing an inclusive application and interview process, our Talent Acquisition team aims to hear all voices equally. We strive to attract a highly diverse workforce and create a culture where every employee feels welcomed and respected and they can be their authentic selves.
Our planet needs us! Learn about NREL’s critical objectives, and see how NREL is focused on saving the planet.
We invite all interested candidates to apply for this opportunity. While we recognize that job seekers may hesitate if they don’t meet every requirement, we encourage dedicated individuals who meet all the basic and additional required qualifications of the role to submit an application. We value the opportunity to consider those who believe they have the necessary skills and ambition to succeed at NREL.
Job Description
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is a leader in the U.S. Department of Energy’s effort to secure an energy future that is both environmentally and economically sustainable. With locations in Golden, Boulder, Fairbanks, and Washington D.C., NREL is the primary laboratory for research, development and deployment of renewable energy technologies in the United States. The NREL mission is to develop renewable energy and energy efficient technologies and practices, advance related science and engineering, and transfer knowledge and innovation to address the nation’s energy and environmental goals.
The intern in this position will support a variety of tasks related to renewable energy data analysis and data collection with a focus on non-residential renewable energy supply options in NREL's Strategic Energy Analysis Center. The successful candidate will have strong research, data analysis, consolidation, and writing skills as well as experience compiling and manipulating large data sets for analysis. The candidate will support renewable energy technology, policy, market, financing, and regulatory projects through data collection, cleaning, and analysis; literature reviews; industry interviews; writing; and spreadsheet analysis.
Possible key projects include:
- Stakeholder engagement direct with solar installers and jurisdictions such as cities and counties related to residential solar permitting
- Data collection, cleaning, and analysis related to solar permitting, inspection, and interconnection
- Support research projects examining distributed solar policies and other clean energy-related market analysis.
- Data collection and analysis for renewable energy supply options for large non-residential, commercial and industrial renewable energy buyers.
Basic Qualifications
Minimum of a 3.0 cumulative grade point average. Undergraduate: Must be enrolled as a full-time student in a bachelor’s degree program from an accredited institution. Post Undergraduate: Earned a bachelor’s degree within the past 12 months. Eligible for an internship period of up to one year. Graduate: Must be enrolled as a full-time student in a master’s degree program from an accredited institution. Post Graduate: Earned a master’s degree within the past 12 months. Eligible for an internship period of up to one year. Graduate + PhD: Completed master’s degree and enrolled as PhD student from an accredited institution.
* Must meet educational requirements prior to employment start date.
Additional Required Qualifications
- Pursuing graduate degree in data analysis, data science, environmental studies, economics, law, public policy, public administration, business, or similar.
- Expertise in data collection, organization, cleaning, and manipulation and familiar with one software tool to scrape, manage, visualize, and analyze data which could include R, MATLAB or PYTHON.
- Background in qualitative and quantitative data analysis.
To be considered, all candidates must include in their resume an online code repository such as GitHub with several publicly visible coding projects. Alternatively, please explain in your cover letter why your application does not include a code repository and/or several examples of previous projects.
Please note that applications without a cover letter will not be considered.
Preferred Qualifications
- Background or interest in renewable energy, minerals, engineering, or other relevant field.
- Great attention to detail and excellent research, written communication, organizational, and Excel and PowerPoint skills.
- Personable, professional, and comfortable engaging with state and local stakeholders.
- Knowledge and experience in one or more of:
- Residential solar adoption
- Solar permitting, inspection, and interconnection
- Data Analysis
- Clean energy market and policy analysis
- Renewable energy deployment and technology
- US Voluntary Green Power Markets and Supply Mechanisms
Job Application Submission Window
The anticipated closing window for application submission is up to 30 days and may be extended as needed.