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The New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) is the most aggressive and comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation in the country. It includes goals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 85% by 2025, as well as producing 70% of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and reaching zero carbon emissions in the electricity sector by 2040. It also codifies many interim targets including deploying 1.5 GW of energy storage by 2025 and 3 GW by 2030. Modeling shows that half this energy storage could be located in New York City, an increase from less than 50 MWs deployed today. In addition to these State mandates, New York City’s OneNYC 2050 Strategic Plan calls for all sectors of the economy, including buildings, transportation, and waste, to rely on 100% clean electricity by 2040 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

Achieving these ambitious goals depends on enabling energy storage technologies to be safely installed at scale within New York City. Energy storage will enable clean renewable energy to be available when needed. It will also reduce reliance on fossil-fueled peaking plants located in the five boroughs. These facilities are the oldest and least efficient of the electric generating fleet, operate on the hottest days of the year, and their emissions cause local health impacts – predominantly within New York City’s environmental justice communities.

Since 2016, a team from the NYC Fire Department (FDNY), NYC Department of Buildings (DOB), NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability (MOS), Con Edison, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and the City University of New York's Sustainable CUNY Smart Distributed Generation Hub have worked with labs, standards developing organizations, and the storage industry to advance energy storage in NYC. This work helped result in the 2019 FDNY Rule 3 RCNY 608-01 and DOB Bulletins 2019-002 and 2019-007, which guide the outdoor installation of energy storage systems.

At this time, a Technical Consultant is sought for a full-time role assisting the FDNY with reviewing applications for energy storage systems. As part of Sustainable CUNY’s efforts to expand clean energy solutions in New York City including energy storage, this position will be paid as an employee under Sustainable CUNY using funding provided by NYSERDA.  However, on a day-to-day basis this individual will report directly to the Assistant Deputy Director of the Bureau of Fire Prevention at FDNY and will primarily review plans for Battery Energy Storage Systems. This may include:

• Technical calculations related to project submissions
• Technical evaluations and testing reports
• Preparing oral and written presentations
• Engaging in studies or investigations related to proposed fire suppression systems to determine design feasibility
• Conducting fire simulations using Computational Fluid Dynamics simulated models to determine building performance under a fire scenario
• Researching NYC Mechanical Code, NYC Construction Codes, NYC Fire Code, 3RCNY, NEMA, NFPA, IEEE, UL and FM standards
• Conferring with engineers, architects and others in matters relating to the assigned projects.
• Joining FDNY staff on project site visits

In light of recent events and due to an abundance of caution, the selected candidate may be required to periodically work from home. This schedule is subject to change. Additional information will be provided upon hiring.