Council notes Silicon Valley Power 10-year energy-efficiency goals; questions on data centers and payback

The City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to ‘‘note and file’’ a presentation by Silicon Valley Power (SVP) on its proposed 10-year energy-efficiency goals and market potential, while several council members pressed staff for more detail on how the utility will engage large commercial users — particularly data centers — and how program costs and savings were calculated.

The motion to note and file was moved by Council Member Maitri Jain and seconded by Council Member Albert Gonzales; it passed unanimously of those present.

What was presented SVP staff described a planning document that projects cumulative gross technical potential for energy efficiency over the next decade and proposed program targets. SVP staff and the city manager told council that much of the additional energy-efficiency potential on the utility’s system will come from large commercial and industrial customers — especially data centers — because residential and some commercial measures have reached market saturation.

Numbers raised during the discussion Council Member Jain cited a chart presented in the staff materials that the staff described as a best estimate of cumulative gross market potential (staff phrased a figure aloud that sounded like "about 3,250,000 megawatt‑hours" over the next 10 years). Council members also referenced load growth at SVP — an increase the staff described from about 750 MW to roughly 1,300 MW of load — and noted the utility’s projected annual energy savings from the efficiency program (staff-presented savings in the materials were about 15,945 MWh per year from the targeted programs). SVP staff said program costs were evaluated for cost-effectiveness and that the utility already runs rebates and pay-for-performance on large projects.

Council questions and staff responses Council members asked for more concrete examples of measures targeted at data centers (variable-speed drives, efficient cooling systems, water‑cooling/AI-driven technologies, and building automation were discussed). SVP Director Nico Prokos and program manager Rachel said the utility is pursuing large-project pay-for-performance contracts with major account customers, continuing direct outreach to key accounts, and evaluating new technologies as they emerge. Staff noted that as the easier, ‘‘low‑hanging fruit’’ measures are exhausted, remaining potential is costlier but still pursued.

Public comment and ancillary concerns Members of the public raised questions about backup generators and local emissions associated with monthly generator tests; SVP staff said that while backup generation and emissions concerns are important, those items were not part of the efficiency plan before the council and would need separate regulatory and technical evaluation.

Next steps Council directed staff to note and file the materials and to return with more detailed, customer‑specific information for council review, including concrete examples of recent large-customer projects, program cost breakdowns and further discussion of potential co‑generation or heat‑recovery strategies for data centers.