Internship Location: Madison WI
Organization Type: State Government
Policy Areas: Environment/Renewable Energy
As the Renewable Energy Fellow at the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), I worked in the Executive Office developing policies to support the renewable energy industry and a clean energy transition in Wisconsin. After conducting interviews with public and private sector stakeholders as a basis for my research, I divided my time between two projects. The first was developing a new pilot initiative that supports farmers’ ability to leverage their cooperative organizations to bulk purchase solar photovoltaic (PV) modules through a group-buy model. If successful, the PV will be installed on each participating farm, helping lower and stabilize electricity costs long-term while also supporting a more resilient grid by increasing distributed energy resources. The second project was evaluating high level parameters of best practices for growing WEDC support of renewable energy in Wisconsin with specific attention given to green banks. Throughout my research and time spent with the organization, I gained a well-rounded understanding of the role WEDC plays in encouraging economic development in the state and the challenges that rural communities face when adopting clean energy technologies.