Jennifer DeCesaro
US Department of Energy
Senior Advisor
Jennifer DeCesaro returned to the U.S. Department of Energy in 2018 as a Senior Advisor in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity where she oversees the Energy Transitions Initiative which is focused on advancing self-reliant island and remote communities through resilient energy systems. Additionally, Jennifer is actively supporting hurricane recovery efforts in the Caribbean. Prior to returning to DOE, Jennifer served as the Senior Programme Officer for Technical Assistance and Advisory Services for the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). In this role, she worked with countries to support their transition to a sustainable energy future. With a strong focus on 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.