Silicon Valley Power Embraces the Green Movement

Silicon Valley Power has been around for a long time—approximately 116 years to be exact—and is a municipal electrical utility company that powers electricity to the entire city of Santa Clara, Calif. As an electric utility, the company’s portfolio is wide and covers a large segment of the data center industry, as Santa Clara has quickly become the “data center Mecca.”

According to Larry Owns, division manager of Customer Services at Silicon, within utilities customers have choices. They can either go with a green power program, which encompasses geo thermo and natural gas and consists of 100 percent green power instead of the standard energy mix. While the environmental benefits from leveraging this type of power, while simultaneously supporting renewable power, is a world goal, in 2010 the company was highlighted as the largest provider of green power in the nation.

In order to understand the areas the company is excelling in and those it may need to put a little more effort into,  Silicon Valley Power surveys customers frequently, and recently received extremely positive marks in regards to customer satisfaction. It also scored high in other areas including being noted as having the highest power reliability track records in the country.

Some of the main challenges the firm is currently seeing in the industry today include the fact that there is quite a bit of change going on, such as a huge push for more renewable power and high amounts of energy efficiency. There are also a number of things occurring, including more regulations and targets being set, in addition to technology like electric vehicles being introduced to the market at a rapid pace.

Owens added, “This is a game changer for both the transportation and electric industries and a huge benefit for society due to emission reductions and much less dependence on oil.”

The company stands ahead of competitors as it remains on the forefront of recently released technologies and continues to acquire new resources.

Right now in the industry, with recent findings revealing that 70 percent of businesses own both a tablet and smartphone,  “as a utility that’s steeped in tradition our more traditional means of billing service and letters are moving towards e-mails, websites and notifications that can eliminate bill shock. I see the company headed in very new and exciting space, moving towards complete automation of the grid.”

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