2021 Shultz Energy Fellowships: City of Palo Alto Utilities — The Karl Knapp Energy Fellow in City Government

Regional-, state-, and city-level efforts are essential in our fight against climate change, especially in the field of energy. Stanford University is committed to helping by integrating its students into energy and climate ecosystems in the West through the Shultz Energy Fellowships program (formerly Stanford Energy Internships in California and the West), an energy-related summer fellowship program for undergraduate and graduate students.

Named in honor of former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, one of the most widely admired American public servants of the past half-century, the program offers a suite of paid, energy-related public service fellowships for Stanford students in California, Colorado, Utah, and Hawaii during the summer. 

The fellowships run from Monday, June 21, 2021 to Friday, August 27, 2021.

City of Palo Alto — The Karl Knapp Energy Fellow in City Government:

Karl Knapp worked for the City of Palo Alto Utilities from 2001 to 2008 as a Senior Resource Planner. The Karl Knapp Energy Fellow in City Government, started  in 2019, is a government internship opportunity Stanford University offers as part of the Shultz Energy Fellowships program in memory of Karl.

The City of Palo Alto has provided a full range of utility services (electric, gas, water, and sewer) for over 100 years, and is one of the only publicly owned gas utilities in the State of California. The City has ambitious sustainability goals, as embodied in its Sustainability and Climate Action Plan. Palo Alto has been a leader in Green Building and has been recognized for its Energy Reach Codes. Its Utilities Department has been on the forefront of sustainability, with 100% carbon neutral electric and gas portfolio goals and an award-winning solar program. CPAU is working to address long term business planning challenges related to sustainability and the long-term need to maintain safety, reliability, and reasonable rates.

Fellows working with the City of Palo Alto in 2021 will work in the Utilities Department, Resource Management Division. Resource Management is a group of analysts and program managers responsible for managing the City’s electricity, natural gas, and water supply portfolios, financial forecasting and developing customer retail rates, and developing and implementing customer programs related to energy and water efficiency, solar energy, electric vehicles, and building decarbonization.

The specific projects assigned will depend on the skills, abilities, and interests of the candidate and the needs of the City. Projects for the summer of 2021 may include one or more of the following, or similar projects:

1. Resiliency planning for the Palo Alto community both now and in a fully electrified future
2. Evaluating and proposing alternatives to establish a cost of carbon in Palo Alto for utility planning and sustainability planning purposes
3. Developing a marginal avoided cost of carbon curve for various emissions reductions programs.
4. Designing pilot programs, such as for smart electric panels or flexible load aggregation
5. Low-income and voluntary electrification and resiliency program planning
6. The role of renewable natural gas in reducing Palo Alto carbon emissions
7. Value of water projects that create drought resilience, particularly to protect tree canopy.
8. Benchmarking electric utility performance against similar agencies

2020 Fellow:

• Mo Sodwatana, M.S. '21 in Energy Resources Engineering
• Learn about Mo's experience at CPAU:
  • Understanding EV Charger Needs in Palo Alto
• View Mo's final project.