City of Santa Clara Utility Makes 20-Year Wind Deal to Increase Green, Renewable Power Resources for Customers
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – February 15, 2012 – The City of Santa Clara municipal electric utility, Silicon Valley Power (SVP ), has purchased enough wind-generated electricity to supply over 20,000 homes with clean, renewable energy. The purchase power agreement with Iberdrola Renewables will provide up to 130,000 megawatt-hours of electricity a year for 20 years from the new Manzana Wind Power Project, coming on line late this year in Southern California. A typical Santa Clara household uses less than 500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of power a month, or approximately 6,000 kWh a year.
The Manzana purchase eliminates about 40,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/co2_human.html that would otherwise be put into the air by generators utilizing fossil fuels, and is equivalent to removing 7,900 cars from the road.
“Not only will we significantly exceed the State of California’s mandated standards http://www.energy.ca.gov/renewables ,” said Larry Owens, SVP Manager of Customer Services, “this increase in renewable energy also meets the expectations of our customers who rely on us to help in lowering their carbon footprint.”
SVP’s generation mix can now produce as much as 33 percent renewable power for Santa Clara, but the utility is only committing to maintain at least 25 percent for the next few years. This level of commitment allows SVP to adjust for variables in the renewable energy market and weather, yet maintain one of the highest levels of renewable power in the state. California currently requires utilities to provide at least 20 percent of their power from renewable resources, with the requirement going up to 33 percent by 2020.
About Silicon Valley Power
Silicon Valley Power http://svpower.com is the trademark adopted for use by the not-for-profit electric municipal utility of Santa Clara, CA serving residents and businesses for over 100 years. SVP provides power to more than 50,000 customers, including Applied Materials, Intel, Owens Corning and Yahoo!, at rates 15 to 45 percent below neighboring communities.