Silicon Valley Power

It all began on July 23, 1896, when the creation of a municipal electric utility was authorized by order of the Santa Clara Board of Town Trustees. The Town of Santa Clara went to work creating a lighting plant consisting of forty-six 2,000-candlepower direct current lamps and a small dynamo (or electric generator). At the end of October 1896, the electric utility formally entered into service. By 1903, the Town was outgrowing its system and invested $5,000 to convert from direct current to alternating currenttodays industry standard. This switch led to the abandonment of the small generation plant. Wholesale power was purchased from the United Gas and Electric Company of San Jose and, for the next sixty-two years, the utility purchased all its electric power from investor-owned utilities. In 1965, the Silicon Valley area began its launch into the high-tech era and the utility began to diversify its resources. The City of Santa Clara became a charter member of the newly form...