REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Action on the Annual City of Santa Clara Electric Department dba Silicon Valley Power 2024 Wildfire Mitigation Plan
Report
COUNCIL PILLAR
Deliver and Enhance High-Quality Efficient Services and Infrastructure
BACKGROUND
California Public Utilities Code Section 8387, as amended by Senate Bill 901 in 2018, requires every local publicly electric utility, like City of Santa Clara, Silicon Valley Power (SVP), to prepare a wildfire mitigation plan (WMP). State law requires the WMP to cover, among other things, (1) a description of the preventive strategies and programs to be adopted by the local publicly owned electric utility to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfire fires; (2) plans for vegetation management; and (3) plans for inspections of electrical infrastructure. On June 25, 2019, the City Council approved SVP's 2019 Wildfire Mitigation Plan, which include SVP's remote electric transmission assets. In accordance with State law, the WMP is reviewed by staff and adopted by Council on an annual basis.
SVP's service territory is contiguous with the City of Santa Clara (City) city limits with limited service in neighboring jurisdictions and is situated in an urban environment. Based on historical fire data and local conditions, and in consultation with local fire departments, there is no significant risk of catastrophic wildfire resulting from overhead electrical lines and equipment within SVP's service territory. Therefore, the WMP focuses on the management of five transmission assets outside of SVP's service territory.
The City owns generation facilities and related transmission assets outside of SVP's service territory. These include the following:
* The Grizzly Hydroelectric Project (Grizzly), a part of the Bucks Creek Project, FERC No. 619, located in Plumas County, California. To allow for the delivery of energy from Grizzly and interconnection to Pacific Gas & Electric's...
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