Clean Energy Spotlight: Melina Acevedo
To close out #WomensHistoryMonth, this week’s #cleanenergy spotlight is a trailblazer with more than 5 years of experience working in the sustainability sector. Meet Melina Acevedo of D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) and Latinxs in Sustainability (LiS).
Melina currently works as an Associate at DESRI, focusing on solar project management and development. DESRI is a leading “independent power producer in the United States, developing, owning, and operating utility-scale renewable energy projects.”
Prior to working at DESRI, Melina worked as a Senior Sales Analyst at Nextracker, where she “project managed the contracting of 6.8 GW of utility-scale solar projects across the US and Canada, bringing in $573M in company revenue.”
Melina is also currently on the Leadership Team at Latinxs in Sustainability, a collective “dedicated to increasing the representation of Latinx-identifying professionals, students, and communities in the sustainability field.” While working to dismantle the structural barriers that have historically hindered Latinx representation in the #cleanenergy field, Melina is empowering Latinx professionals to be “agents of change.” She leads Partnerships for the NY-based collective, including corporate sponsors and their first-ever workforce development program with the City College of New York for students seeking sustainability careers. The program is scheduled for the Fall of 2023 and Melina will be connecting NYC-based employers to students, many of whom identify as BIPOC and are the first in their families to attend college.
LiS was born out of the understanding that, historically, Latinx communities have not been able to reap the benefits of climate solutions. This extends to Latinx #cleanenergy workers who “represent nearly 17% of the clean energy workforce in comparison [to] white workers at 60% (E2, 2021).” Injustices such as these are what keep Melina’s coals burning as she recently completed a two year term as a Board Member of Young Professionals in Energy (YPE) SF Bay Area. She created and led YPE's inaugural Scholarship Program “for students [supporting four first-generation college students] and Clean Energy Career Expo series for students and young/transitioning professionals since 2021.”
She was first introduced to #cleanenergy while studying Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering at Princeton University. While her “ journey…was non-linear,” she is able to show other folks with similar lived experiences that a “career in clean energy is tangible and a means to create and drive solutions that benefit their local communities.”
Melina, a first-generation college student and immigrant from Peru, wasn't able to depend on her family for career advice, nor was she acquainted with many energy professionals from similar marginalized backgrounds early in her career. “The lack of representation…can be discouraging and isolating,” she says. But strengthening one's own community while “lifting [others] as we climb,” is an “invaluable lesson that [she] carr[ies] with [her] and instill[s] in others.
As someone who grew up in a frontline community, the #cleanenergy sector should be one that is inclusive of “communities that have traditionally been excluded from environmental policies,” she says. And being intentional in “centering equity and inclusion” in her work is allowing her to manifest a world fueled by #cleanenergy while empowering those who have most-often been excluded. “Clean energy jobs can be a framework for generational wealth creation…for groups that have been historically disenfranchised from our current energy system.”
Thank you, Melina for helping to mentor and charge Latinx #cleanenergy professionals, and congratulations on being this week’s #cleanenergyspotlight.
The views and opinions set forth in this article are those of Ms. Acevedo, not necessarily the views or opinions of DESRI or others at DESRI.
