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Silicon Valley Power
 
 
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Silicon Valley Power (SVP) is a not-for-profit
Non-profit organization

A nonprofit organization is any organization that does not aim to make a profit, and which is not a public body....
 municipal electric utility
Public utility

A public utility is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public services . Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to state-wide government monopolies....
 owned and operated by the city of Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara, California

Santa Clara, California , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the U.S. state of California....
, USA.

inally founded in 1896 as Santa Clara's electric department, for many years SVP only purchased wholesale energy.

In 1980 SVP became an energy producing utility for the first time since 1903, when it launched its own six megawatt cogeneration
Cogeneration

Cogeneration is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat.Conventional power plants emit the heat created as a by-product of electricity generation into the environment through cooling towers, flue gas, or by other means....
 project, and in 1983 was the lead partner in a new 110-megawatt geothermal power
Geothermal power

Geothermal power is energy generated from heat stored in the earth, or the collection of absorbed heat derived from underground.Prince Piero Ginori Conti tested the first geothermal generator on 4 July 1904, at the Larderello dry steam field in Italy....
 plant.

rding to a 2005 nationwide reliability benchmarking survey, Santa Clara's Silicon Valley Power placed first in several categories and second overall power reliability in the nation.

ntly, SVP brought online a brand new combined cycle gas turbine
Combined cycle

A combined cycle is characteristic of a power producing engine or plant that employs more than one thermodynamic cycle. Heat engines are only able to use a portion of the energy their fuel generates ....
 plant called the Donald Von Raesfeld Power Plant (DVR).






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Encyclopedia


Silicon Valley Power (SVP) is a not-for-profit
Non-profit organization

A nonprofit organization is any organization that does not aim to make a profit, and which is not a public body....
 municipal electric utility
Public utility

A public utility is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public services . Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to state-wide government monopolies....
 owned and operated by the city of Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara, California

Santa Clara, California , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the U.S. state of California....
, USA.

History

Originally founded in 1896 as Santa Clara's electric department, for many years SVP only purchased wholesale energy.

In 1980 SVP became an energy producing utility for the first time since 1903, when it launched its own six megawatt cogeneration
Cogeneration

Cogeneration is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat.Conventional power plants emit the heat created as a by-product of electricity generation into the environment through cooling towers, flue gas, or by other means....
 project, and in 1983 was the lead partner in a new 110-megawatt geothermal power
Geothermal power

Geothermal power is energy generated from heat stored in the earth, or the collection of absorbed heat derived from underground.Prince Piero Ginori Conti tested the first geothermal generator on 4 July 1904, at the Larderello dry steam field in Italy....
 plant.

Power reliability

According to a 2005 nationwide reliability benchmarking survey, Santa Clara's Silicon Valley Power placed first in several categories and second overall power reliability in the nation.

Pricing

Recently, SVP brought online a brand new combined cycle gas turbine
Combined cycle

A combined cycle is characteristic of a power producing engine or plant that employs more than one thermodynamic cycle. Heat engines are only able to use a portion of the energy their fuel generates ....
 plant called the Donald Von Raesfeld Power Plant (DVR). The new plant produces 147 megawatts of electricity for the city, its businesses and its residents. As a result of this new plant and a diverse power source portfolio, the going rate for electricity in Santa Clara is considerably cheaper than that offered by Northern California's dominant utility, Pacific Gas and Electric
Pacific Gas and Electric Company

The Pacific Gas and Electric Company , is the Public utility that provides natural gas and electricity to most of Northern California. The southern part of the state is generally served by Southern California Edison for power and natural gas from Southern California Gas....
.

Environmental responsibility

SVP offers customers the option of selecting "Santa Clara Green Power", which is 100% renewable energy
Renewable energy

Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources—such as sunlight, wind, rain, tidal energy and geothermal energy—which are Renewable resource ....
 generated from wind
Wind power

Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form, such as electricity, using wind turbines. At the end of 2008, worldwide nameplate capacity of wind-powered generators was 120.8 gigawatts....
 and solar
Solar power

Solar energy is the radiant light and heat from the Sun that has been harnessed by humans since ancient history using a range of ever-evolving technologies....
 sources. SVP also offers rebates for customers who purchase Energy Star
Energy Star

Energy Star is an international standard for Energy conservation consumer products. It was first created as a United States government program in 1992, but Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan and the European Union have also adopted the program....
 appliances or install a whole house fan
Whole house fan

A whole-house fan is a type of Fan installed in a building's ceiling, designed to suck hot air out of the building. It is sometimes confused with an attic fan....
.

Customer service


In 2002, Jeremy Zawodny
Jeremy Zawodny

Jeremy Zawodny is an incoming employee of Craigslist, having left Yahoo!'s platform engineering group. He has been described as "Yahoo!'s MySQL guru"....
's power was cut off due to a clerical error. The Silicon Valley Power customer service representative was unwilling or unable to resolve the situation. Jeremy was instead told to call back in the morning, when the billing office opened. Though he was told that the shutoff was for non-payment, records indicated that he had in fact paid his bill on time.

Another customer reported frustration with their customer service practices in 2009.

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