About
About the Clean Energy Internship Program
The RI Clean Energy Internship Program is a paid 12-week internship program managed by the Office of Energy Resources (OER) and Rhode Island Commerce’s Renewable Energy Fund (REF). It is designed to help provide internship opportunities in clean energy careers, ranging across marketing, engineering, research, solar, direct construction, energy efficiency and more! Students and recent graduates will be able to professionally develop under the mentorship of an industry partner to combat real world problems in energy and the environment.
This is not a recruitment opportunity to work at OER, but rather, OER manages this internship portal where students and companies create accounts, upload application documents, and schedule interviews. OER reimburses the host company for the cost of hosting students as interns. Since its launch in 2019, the program has placed 174 interns at 39 different companies, with 22 receiving full or part-time jobs at their host companies as a result of their internship.
The program runs three times per year in spring, summer, and fall. OER reimburses host companies for intern wages up to $16/hour, up to 40 hours per week, for 12 weeks. While host companies are welcome to pay above the minimum wage subsidy, there is no upfront cost to participate. Employers and students connect through the internship portal, where both parties create profiles, submit materials, and connect for interviews.
About STEPS
The Student Training & Experience for Professional Success (STEPS) Initiative is a summer professional development experience that compliments the summer sessions of the Rhode Island Clean Energy Internship Program. The summer programming includes an orientation, mentorship circles, workshops with guest speakers, and an end of summer networking events for students and employers.
Clean Energy Jobs Report
As detailed in the 2024 Rhode Island Clean Energy Industry Report, clean energy is growing faster than any year since 2018, increasing by 466 workers at a rate of 3.2 percent. Clean energy employment growth in 2023 was nearly double that of 2022 (466 and 254, respectively) and outpaced overall job growth statewide (3.2% vs. 1.9% overall) over the same period, with a growth from 14,510 jobs over 2022, to 14,976 over 2023. The clean energy economy gained 466 jobs over this period, the largest net gain in five years. While Rhode Island has yet to achieve pre-pandemic clean energy job levels, the continued growth over the last three years indicates the state is on track to recover fully in the coming years. Every clean energy technology sector grew in employment over the last year, and all but one saw higher growth rates than the year before. The only technology sector to see a lesser growth rate from 2022 to 2023 is clean transportation, however this sector maintained the highest growth rate of any technology in this year’s report at 7.8 percent. In Rhode Island, the amount of electric vehicle registrations grew by almost half (48.8 percent), from 4,300 in 2022 to 6,400 in 2023.2 The largest net gain of workers was in the energy efficiency sector, adding 225 workers, followed by renewable and efficient heating and cooling with a 119-worker increase. Renewable energy also grew, gaining 84 jobs in the clean energy economy.
