Data and Energy Planning Intern

Background Information - Job-specific

UNOPS hosts Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) Secretariat/Programme in Vienna, Austria. Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) is an independent organization with a global mandate to accelerate progress on the energy transition in emerging and developing countries. We work at the intersection of energy, climate, and development. We collaborate with governments and partners worldwide to end energy poverty, accelerate the deployment of renewable energy solutions, and combat climate change.

Our vision is a world where everyone, everywhere, can lead a dignified life on a healthy planet, powered by sustainable energy. We promote this vision by pushing for higher ambitions, stronger policies, greater finance flows, increased localization and green jobs, and faster results toward an energy transition that leaves no one behind.

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the Sustainable Energy for All initiative in 2011. Since then, our CEO has served as the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy.

This position is located within the Integrated Energy Access Planning Programme.

The Integrated Energy Access Planning Programme provides technical assistance to governments to develop their Integrated Energy Access Plans (IEPs) as a way of helping high energy access-deficit countries gain a more integrated and data-driven understanding of the technologies and spending required to achieve universal energy access. IEPs can generate strategic insights into the optimal ways to expand access to not just electricity but also clean cooking, enhanced agricultural and medical cold-chains. This is for ensuring an integrated and holistic approach for achieving energy access targets. Besides this, through its Centre of Excellence, the programme also seeds the the sector with resources and innovations, e.g., better data and tools, training, global advocacy for the widespread adoption of IEPs while working with governments to showcase, implement and learn from best-in-class IEPs energy.

Under the IBM Sustainability Accelerator, the program is currently working together with IBM and DLR (German Aerospace Centre) on developing the Open Building Insights Tool (OBI Tool), which is an AI-based solution that is able to produce high-quality building footprints datasets that have the potential to support energy planning processes, such as identifying human activity, understanding urbanization and energy demand patterns, and helping the sector to better target energy access, cooling, energy efficiency and other infrastructure interventions. The tool is being developed and piloted in Kenya and India (Maharastra) and it is aimed to be applied to more geographies. The Intern is expected to support the technical developments and stakeholder engagement components of this project.

Functional Responsibilities

Main duties and tasks

• Supporting the IEP team on the transition phase of the OBI Tool by contributing to formulating the next phases – ensuring the sustainability of our solution, as well as attending capacity building sessions around technical developments, as needed.
• Providing technical and stakeholder engagement support on the ongoing use cases of the tool in Kenya and India.
• Support with stakeholder engagement and outreach to foster collaborations and expand tool functionality to other geographies.
• Supporting the coordination of dissemination activities around the OBI Tool and related thematic areas.
• Engaging with the Community of Practice to communicate and promote the ongoing developments of the tool, gathering relevant feedback, and looking at the potential for creating a Community of Practice around the OBI Tool in other geographies, e.g., India.
• Apart from the above-mentioned key activities, supporting and learning from other relevant activities and projects active in the program

Learning Objectives

• This internship provides hands-on experience and growth opportunities in the following areas:
• Hands-on development and/or application of AI-driven tools supporting energy planning;
• Exposure to the international development sector with regional/country focus;
• Active involvement in at least one ongoing country project of the SEforALL IEP team.

Education/Experience/Language requirements

Education

• Applicants should have recently (in the last 3 years) graduated with a first level or advanced university degree (Bachelors, Masters or equivalent) in technical fields such as engineering, preferably with further specialization in data science, machine learning, and business analytics and applications in the energy field.

Experience 

• Applicants are not required to have prior work experience, however prior experience in data analytics and energy planning around technology products is desirable;
• Experience in Python programming is an asset.

Language 

Fluency in English is required. Working knowledge of another official UN language is an asset.