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Power up: PG&E says electricity plan can boost Silicon Valley innovation and economy

George Avalos, The Mercury News on

Published in Business News

SAN JOSE, California — PG&E is pushing forward with quests to help bolster Silicon Valley’s economy and innovation future, including major South Bay and East Bay electricity projects, utility officials said Wednesday.

Executives with PG&E appeared at a power breakfast in downtown San Jose that was sponsored by law firm Hoge Fenton, using the occasion to assure the business leaders who had gathered for the event that the company was doing all it could to improve the reliability of its services.

“We have a long way to go but we are working very diligently to deliver reliable energy,” Teresa Alvarado, PG&E’s South Bay & Central Coast regional vice president, said at the Hoge Fenton event, which was held at the Silicon Valley Capital Club on East San Fernando Street in downtown San Jose.

Oakland-based PG&E also detailed during the event two mega projects that are being crafted by a Midwest power company to bring big chunks of electricity into north San Jose and downtown San Jose.

PG&E hopes the projects will help ensure that a lack of reliable electricity doesn’t hobble economic expansion in these sections of Silicon Valley.

“We are trying to get ahead of the load growth in this area,” said James Tuccillo, a PG&E distribution engineering manager who was part of a utility company panel at the Hoge Fenton event.

 

LS Power Grid California, an affiliate of Missouri-based LS Power, is leading the efforts to develop two major new electricity facilities in the Bay Area.

Here are the details of each project, according to LS Power Grid California:

— Metcalf Substation to San Jose B substation. This project would connect a new terminal near the existing Metcalf station in south San Jose to a new terminal in downtown San Jose near the corner of Coleman Avenue and Santa Teresa Street. The project includes underground transmission lines connecting the two terminals as well as the existing electrical grid. LS calls this the Power Santa Clara Valley Project.

— Newark Substation to Northern Receiving Station. This project would connect a new terminal near the PG&E Newark Substation in Fremont to Silicon Valley Power’s Northern Receiving Station in Santa Clara via a new terminal near the Regional Wastewater Facility in Alviso. The project includes mostly underground transmission lines connecting the terminals to each other and the existing electrical grid. LS calls this the Power the South Bay Project.

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