Projects

Growth Expansion Projects

On 9/10/24, City Council approved an electric revenue bond issuance for a total amount not to exceed $143 Million to finance capital costs of the electric system. The estimated proceeds are to be used for design services, project management, material procurement expenses, and contingencies. Learn more about this Council Action regarding the electric revenue bond issuance.

Growth Plan Project Updates Webinar Series

Silicon Valley Power (SVP) is hosting a series of webinars that began on April 30, 2024. These meetings are essential for Large Developers and Key Customers impacted by SVP's project schedules. We encourage your attendance to stay informed and engaged.

Meeting Focus:

Status updates on NRS, KRS, SRS, and 115 KV line projects
High-level schedules and timelines
Upcoming project milestones and deliverables
Areas that could potentially affect project delivery

Webinar Schedule:

Recurring every two (2) months
Last Tuesday of the month
Time: 10:00 AM Pacific Time (unless otherwise noted)
Please note: The Dec. 31 meeting was re-scheduled to Jan. 16 at 11:00 am. The zoom link will remain the same so customers do not need to register again.

Registration Information:

Registration is required to attend. Please register at Webinar Registration - Zoom
Meetings will not be recorded
Attendees can register once and attend any occurrence of the webinar series

Past Presentations:

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115kV Transmission Line from Northern Receiving Station to Kifer Receiving Station

Project Overview

Silicon Valley Power (SVP) is proposing to construct approximately 2.24 miles of new 115 kilovolt (kV) transmission line within the northeastern area of the City of Santa Clara. The primary objective of the new transmission line, referred to as the Proposed Project, is to connect the Northern Receiving Station (NRS) and Kifer Receiving Station (KRS). This connection will facilitate the balancing and redistribution of energy within SVP's transmission receiving stations and enable SVP to serve new load growth projected based on the SVP Resource Load Forecast.

Route Details

The SVP evaluation team identified and evaluated three routes for the new 115kV transmission line before selecting the final route. The preferred alignment begins at NRS, exiting southeast toward Lafayette Street, continuing southeast within the median of Lafayette Street to Agnew Road. It then transitions to the east side of Lafayette Street until Montague Expressway, where the route shifts and enters Bassett Street. The transmission line proceeds southeast down the west side of Bassett Street to Bayshore Freeway, crosses Bayshore Freeway, and continues south along Duane Avenue, interconnecting to KRS from the north.

Public Engagement

SVP prepared a Mitigated Negative Declaration and supporting Initial Study (IS/MND) describing the Proposed Project and its potential environmental effects. To engage the affected community and explain how the public can participate in SVP’s decision-making process, SVP held two virtual public scoping meetings on April 25 and May 23, 2024. Participants were able to provide input on the scope and content of the environmental document. The scoping period closed on May 29.

Email Updates

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Publication of Draft IS/MND & Public Comment Period

SVP prepared a Draft IS/MND, published on July 31, 2024. Based upon the Initial Study, construction of the new 2.24 mile long 115 Kilovolt (kV) transmission line between NRS and KRS, will not have a significant effect on the environment because mitigation measures have been incorporated into/added to the project by conditions of approval that will reduce potential impacts to a less than significant level.

A Notice of Availability (NOA) was mailed out to the Project’s mailing list, and published on the State Clearinghouse Website, which initiated the 30-day public review period. The review period ended at 5:00 PM on Friday, August 30, 2024.

Public Meeting

SVP held an in-person public meeting on Thursday, August 22, 2024, from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm, at Northside Community Room, 695 Moreland Way Santa Clara, CA 95054. The details of this meeting including the presentation and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) are available in the documents link below.

Final IS/MND

The Final IS/MND is now available for review. SVP brought the Project route and IS/MND for consideration to the City Council meeting on October 8, 2024 through a public hearing (RTC # 24-751). The City Council meeting was well attended by residents with concerns about Route A and the health impacts from electromagnetic fields (EMF) of the new 115kV transmission line. The City Council continued the item for a later date, so that staff can provide the City Council with additional information regarding EMF and its impact to the community. Representatives from SVP and their engineering and environmental contractors will return to City Council on November 12, 2024 with the additional information requested and will be available to answer questions at this meeting. The public can participate in the Council meeting either in person or via Zoom. Meeting information will be posted on Friday, November 8, 2024 on the City’s website.

Contact Information

For inquiries and comments regarding the project, please contact: Allie Jackman   Silicon Valley Power   c/o Aspen Environmental Group
235 Montgomery Street, Suite 967
San Francisco, CA 94104-3002
Email: NRS-KRS@aspeneg.com

Documents

Homestead Substation Rebuild Project

SVP is proposing the Homestead Substation Rebuild Project, which would rebuild the existing Homestead Substation within the existing substation site near the intersection of Homestead Road and Kiely Boulevard in the City of Santa Clara. The substation site is separated from the roadways by existing commercial and multi-family residential buildings and does not front on a public right of way. The project would replace the existing substation in its entirety and would increase substation capacity to deliver 12 kilovolt (kV) distribution power within the substation’s service area. An existing 60 kV transmission line provides power to the substation; the line would be relocated within the substation property and unneeded poles and conductor would be removed. The packed rock surface of the property would be paved in asphalt after grading. Construction is estimated to take approximately 30 months and would occur in two phases.

SVP has prepared a Mitigated Negative Declaration and supporting Initial Study (IS/MND) describing the project and its potential environmental effects. The Draft IS/MND is undergoing a public review from November 18 to December 21, 2022. Comments must be received via email or U.S. Mail (postmarked) by December 21, 2022, at the following address:

Kevin Keating
Silicon Valley Power
881 Martin Street
Santa Clara, CA 95050
kkeating@santaclaraca.gov

Small Cell Deployment

Wireless technology continues to expand throughout the world promoting innovation and productivity and as such, users are seeking the best coverage with the fastest connection.

To meet this need, telecommunications companies plan to install small cell equipment on Silicon Valley Power’s (SVP) property with as little disruption to the community as possible. Learn more about the City's plan to deploy small cells.

SVP South Loop Reconfigure Project

SVP is proposing to construct approximately 3.5 miles of new 60 kilovolt (kV) overhead transmission line within the northeastern area of the City of Santa Clara. SVP’s primary objective of the SVP South Loop Reconfigure Project (proposed project) is to shift the electrical load demand that is currently being seen on the South Loop Circuit to the East Loop Circuit.

The new power line would begin at the Kifer Substation, located near the corner of Central Expressway and Lafayette Streets, and would continue to the De La Cruz Substation, which is located on Mathew Street. The transmission line would also be routed to several other existing substations located along or near the transmission line corridor, including Fiberglass, Walsh, and Mathew Substations. The majority of the new 60 kV transmission line would be constructed along the following city streets: Lafayette Street, Mathew Street, Martin Avenue and De La Cruz Boulevard. Approximately 3 miles of the proposed route would be located in areas where existing power lines do not currently exist. The remaining segments of the Proposed Project would be along routes that have existing distribution power lines and/or telecommunication lines. Construction is estimated to take approximately 6 months and is anticipated to be completed by February 2022.

SVP has prepared a Mitigated Negative Declaration and supporting Initial Study (IS/MND) describing the project and its potential environmental effects. The Draft IS/MND underwent a public review from May 8 to June 8, 2020.

Bucks Creek Relicensing

The City of Santa Clara (City) wishes to provide notice to the Bucks Creek Hydroelectric Project relicensing participants and other interested parties that the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Supplement for the Bucks Creek Project is available for public review and comment. This notice is provided pursuant to requirements identified in the CEQA Guidelines, Sec. 15087. The City is acting as the CEQA lead agency for the Project.

The CEQA Supplement supplements the analysis of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) prepared by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the Bucks Creek Project.

The comment period on the Draft CEQA Supplement begins on Wednesday, June 3, 2020. All comments on the Draft CEQA Supplement must be filed by 5pm Monday, July 20, 2020.

For more information, please contact, John Davidson, Principal Planner at JDavidson@santaclaraca.gov.

SVP MeterConnect

SVP MeterConnect is the City of Santa Clara's advanced meter program that will eventually equip all homes and businesses in the City with modern advanced electric meters. SVP MeterConnect includes the Wi-Fi communications system mounted on streetlights that connects the meters to SVP offices as well as provides communications improvements for other city services. The SVP MeterConnect program is designed to:

Ensure accurate and secure electricity meter reading that is read remotely by SVP
Replace outdated and first generation mechanical meter technology with advanced, thoroughly-tested meters and modern technology
Keep customers informed and educated about plans for deploying advanced meters
Respond openly and immediately to any customer concerns or questions

SVP began phase two of the meter installations in the Spring of 2018, and anticipate all meters will be installed by the end of 2019. Many questions about SVP MeterConnect are answered on SVP's flyer or Frequently Asked Questions. A video of the residential installation process will also answer many questions.

LED Streetlight Retrofit Project

In 2015, SVP completed the retrofit of existing high pressure sodium and mercury vapor streetlights in the southern part of the City with more efficient LED streetlights. In December 2017, SVP began the retrofit of the traffic safety lights at major intersections in this same area with more efficient LED lights. This area is covered under Section 1 in the map below. Following this, SVP retrofitted both the streetlights and traffic safety lights in Section 2 and Section 3 with more efficient LED streetlights. The work was complete in Spring 2018. Future plans for retrofitting the streetlights in the remaining part of the City are currently under development.

SantaClara CA PhaseII Install Phasing v4