Fostering the Interagency for Collaborative Energy Research and Programs

April 12, 2019
DRMI Auditorium
1300—1430

Ms. Jennifer DeCesaro

Director, Technology-to-Market, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Abstract

Through the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Energy Transitions Initiative (ETI), DOE supports islands and remote communities to address high energy costs, reliability, and other challenges through the development of cost-effective and resilient energy infrastructure and associated governance and institutional frameworks. ETI takes a collaborative approach both within DOE and with other federal agencies. ETI has a long history of close collaboration with the Department of Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs, the State Department’s Energy Resources Bureau, and the Department of Defense. New collaborations with FEMA and the Naval Post Graduate School have resulted from recovery efforts in Puerto Rico and the USVI from the 2017 hurricane season.

This seminar will look at the past and the successful interagency collaborations that supported Hawaii as it launched its Clean Energy Initiative in 2008. It will look at the present collaboration efforts, focusing how the federal interagency is supporting hurricane recovery efforts in the U.S. Virgin Islands.  Finally, it will explore opportunities for future collaborations to continue these efforts in support of our nation’s most vulnerable communities. 

Abridged Biography

Jennifer DeCesaro serves as a Senior Advisor in U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). In this role, she oversees the Energy Transitions Initiative, which is focused on supporting islands and other geographically isolated communities in increasing their energy resilience through the increased deployment of local energy sources, including actively supporting hurricane recovery efforts in the Caribbean and Pacific.

From 2015-2017, Jennifer served as the Senior Programme Officer for Technical Assistance and Advisory Services for the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. In this role, she worked with countries to support their transition to a sustainable energy future. With a strong focus on small island developing states and developing countries, Jennifer coordinated across a wide variety of stakeholders to implement IRENA's technical assistance and advisory support activities under country specific and regional projects and programmes for governments and regional energy organizations, among others, to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy technologies.  

Prior to joining IRENA, Jennifer served as the Director of the Technology-to-Market Program in EERE. Before taking on that role, she served as a Special Advisor for Renewable Energy and Transmission in the Secretary of Energy's office and worked as the Market Transformation lead for the DOE's SunShot Initiative. In this capacity, she directed a broad portfolio of activities at the local, state and utility levels to reduce PV system costs and eliminate barriers to solar market development.

Before joining DOE, Jennifer was a senior analyst at Exeter Associates, where she worked on renewable energy grid integration issues and transmission policy. She also has worked as a Project Director for the Clean Energy Group, as a renewable energy and climate policy specialist for the National Conference of State Legislatures, and as an environmental consultant in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Biology from Colorado College and a Master's Degree in Environmental Law from the Vermont Law School.

POC

Dr. Daniel A. Nussbaum
Naval Postgraduate School 
Principal, Energy Academic Group
Monterey CA 93943
Phone: 831-656-2387
Mobile: 831-324-3228
Email: dnussbaum@nps.edu