Based at New York City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), the Division of Energy Management (DEM) serves as the hub for managing energy in City buildings. It works with municipal agencies to advance the City’s emissions-reduction and energy goals. 1
DEM’s work spans planning and technical advice, staff support and training, project funding and contracting, building operations, energy-efficiency and clean-energy installations, utility metering and accounts, and energy supply. 1 Its remit includes both improving existing building systems and expanding renewable generation across the City’s property portfolio. 34
Solar is one visible part of that work. DCAS reports 30.5 megawatts of completed solar installations across 187 facilities, alongside more than 40 megawatts of solar projects in progress, including rooftop arrays, solar canopies and solar-plus-storage installations. 4 The division also supports energy retrofits, such as upgrades to lighting, heating, cooling and ventilation systems in City facilities. 3
A notable project in development is a 10-megawatt solar and 10-megawatt battery-storage installation at the Wards Island Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility, advanced with the Department of Environmental Protection and the New York Power Authority. 5 Other examples include a completed energy retrofit at Lincoln Hospital and a lighting upgrade planned for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 5
The division’s work is citywide, serving City agencies and facilities across New York City. 341 DCAS’s listed headquarters is at One Centre Street in New York City. 2 The available sources identify Sana Barakat as DEM’s deputy commissioner and the City’s Chief Decarbonization Officer. 5 The sources reviewed do not establish the division’s founding year.