Senior Program Research Associate (Power Sector Modelling)

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About the Organization

WRI India, an independent charity legally registered as the India Resources Trust, provides objective information and practical proposals to foster environmentally sound and socially equitable development. WRI India’s mission is to help human society live in ways that protect the Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. Through research, analysis, and recommendations, WRI India puts ideas into action to build transformative solutions to protect the earth, promote livelihoods, and enhance human well-being.

We are inspired by and associated with the World Resources Institute (WRI), a global research organization. Currently, over 150 researchers are working with WRI India in our offices in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.

Job Description

WRI, has deep experience in the energy sector and on climate change across several topic areas and is widely recognized as a leader on energy and climate issues. In India, we have a multi-pronged energy strategy that looks strategically at directing our tools, research, expertise, and partnerships to support India’s clean energy transition across varied economic activities like extraction, production, distribution, consumption and waste management; in ensuring universal access to reliable, affordable and sustainable electricity and minimizing energy losses and thereby contributing to energy planning and policy analysis.  

The objective of WRI India energy program is to inform and guide India’s clean energy transition. Through strong research, ground-level implementation experience, partnerships with key stakeholders and communicating our work, we seek to achieve impact at scale.  

The Energy Program at WRI India is seeking a Senior Program Research Associate (Power Sector Modelling) to work with and support research focused on state’s overall energy transition efforts.  

Job Responsibilities

The Senior Research Associate (Power Sector Modelling) will be part of a focused team with the following responsibilities:   

• Lead efforts in developing, building, scripting and maintaining large datasets related to the energy sector, including data collection, data analyses and data interpretation
• Co-lead the team in building state-specific power sector models
• Setting up the model, running, debugging and analysing scenarios in power sector models
• Design and simulate different dispatch model scenarios and interpret insights that can help inform decision makers at state level
• Conduct literature review and collate information pertaining to energy sector policies and regulations at the state level including power sector planning, resource adequacy, capacity expansion, production cost and power procurement processes
• Be pro-active in researching and pitching ideas, and understanding policy and regulatory processes
• Communicate with various stakeholders especially with electricity utilities, regulators, RE nodal agencies and other state level agencies to received feedback on models
• Lead or co-lead capacity building efforts to effectively communicate findings of the research with identified stakeholders and build knowledge of the ecosystem thereof
• Participate in research projects to produce knowledge products, reports, articles and communication products
• Lead or co-lead specific modules in the project as identified by the Energy Lead
• Perform other tasks as assigned by the Energy lead, including support on research and analysis

Education Qualification/Required Skills & Experience

• Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, a related discipline with exposure to the subject area of programming and energy/power sector
• Minimum 4 years of relevant experience in data handling and analysis, coding, and scripting. Exposure to open source energy models would be a plus
• Fluency in English and Hindi

Knowledge & Skills  

• Experience with power sector modelling tools and software (e.g., PLEXOS, GridPath, PYPSA, PROMOD) is beneficial
• Coding proficiency in Python, with experience in libraries such as Pandas, NumPy, and SciPy for data interpretation and analysis
• Experience with data visualization tools such as Tableau, Power BI or Python libraries like Matplotlib or Seaborn for creating interactive dashboards and reports
• Ability to write scripts for automating data processing and analysis tasks, and knowledge of MS Excel and libraries interfacing Python and Excel
• Knowledge of SQL for querying and managing relational databases (e.g., MySQL) and familiarity with database engines, such as SQLite
• Willingness to learn new tools and modelling techniques related to the energy sector to contribute to on-going/new research projects is a plus
• Strong research and analytical skills, supported by professional experience in the energy sector with contribution to technical papers and research reports
• Strong ability to brainstorm and think creatively about all elements of their work 
• Willingness to travel locally and ability to work cooperatively with others to demonstrate flexibility in fulfilling assignments is essential

For more information please check the Link

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