Out West student blog

Powering water with clean energy

By
Shirley Zhou
Shirley Zhou stands next to a Department of Water Resources sign, framing it with her arms
Shirley Zhou at the DWR Sacramento Office, California. Photo by her supervisor, Fawm, on Shirley’s last day in the office.

Shirley Zhou (she/her)
Hometown: Suzhou, China
Major: Atmosphere/Energy, MS '26
Internship: California Department of Water Resources

Shirley Zhou, a Shultz Energy Fellow, looks at what it will take to achieve California's 24/7 clean energy mandate.

Over the course of my fellowship at the Department of Water Resources (DWR), I learned that clean energy planning is as much about navigating tradeoffs as it is about crunching numbers. I came in expecting to focus on technical modeling, but I left with a much deeper understanding of how hydrology, market prices, and policy mandates all intersect in shaping SWP’s operations.

This experience was especially meaningful because it connected the abstract concepts I’ve studied—like 24/7 clean energy and temporal matching—to the real-world challenges of an organization tasked first and foremost with delivering water. Being part of Power Operation Management office gave me a front-row seat to the balancing act between policy ambitions, financial realities, and operational constraints.

My biggest takeaway is that progress toward California’s clean energy goals won’t come from a single solution but from a combination of solar, complementary resources, and smarter system design. I also take away a new sense of purpose: that my work can contribute, in a tangible way, to bridging the gap between technical analysis and actionable policy.

Beyond the technical lessons, the fellowship was also personally rewarding. For the first two weeks of my internship, I worked at the Sacramento office to get to know my colleagues. I had the opportunity to stay at UC Davis, which gave me the chance to explore the food and places in a city I had never been to before. I often went out to lunch with my colleagues, and those experiences made the fellowship even more memorable by building personal connections outside the office.

Recent Center News

Articles worth reading: June 8, 2026

Federal officials tell Colorado River basin states: if you can’t make a long-term deal on dividing river waters, you must make a series of short-term deals; hunting spreads at federal wildlife refuges; gray whales in trouble off the Pacific coast; new opposition to wind power in Wyoming; Native artists claim ownership of lands Georgia O’Keeffe called her own, and more environmental news from around the West.

In search of water, farmers undermined the San Joaquin Valley. Can collective effort raise their fields, canals – and prospects?

Intensifying groundwater pumping is warping the earth’s surface and wreaking havoc with built infrastructure – including the canals that bring irrigation water.

Westward the course of hikers takes its way

On May 9, friends of the Bill Lane Center set out on an epic walk for 22 miles from Jasper Ridge to San Gregorio State Beach. The annual Stanford to the Sea Hike is a beloved Lane Center tradition.