Press Releases
10/31/2019
Iberdrola Renewables Congratulates Silicon Valley Power for National Wind Award
Iberdrola Renewables Congratulates Silicon Valley Power for National Wind Award
SVP Honored by U.S. Department of Energy
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June 17, 2014
PORTLAND, Ore. — Silicon Valley Power, the City of Santa Clara’s municipal electric utility, earned the prestigious 2014 Public Power Wind Award from the U.S. Department of Energy, in part for their innovative use of wind resources from three Iberdrola Renewables wind farms. SVP purchases wind energy from Iberdrola Renewables’ Big Horn 1 and 2 Wind Power Projects in Washington, and from the Manzana Wind Power Project in southern California, to help balance power from its hydroelectric operations. The DOE announced SVP’s national award today at the American Public Power Association’s National Conference in Denver, Colorado.
“As an early adopter of wind power, Silicon Valley Power has reaped the benefits of having it as an alternative and supplement to more traditional energy sources,” said Larry Owens, SVP Manager of Customer Services. “Diversifying our resources with wind power tempers price volatility caused by hydro or natural gas shortages and helps keep our rates among the lowest in California.”
“SVP’s honor is well-deserved, as it recognizes their innovative use of competitive, clean energy to reliably meet their customers’ needs,” said Barrett Stambler, Iberdrola Renewables’ vice president. “Their enduring and enthusiastic commitment to renewables delivers tangible environmental and economic benefits for their customers and for all of California.”
The Manzana project [fact sheet] in Kern County, Calif., in the wind-rich Tehachapi area, includes 126 wind turbines. This project supports the local economy with property tax payments estimated to be more than $50 million and lease payments expected to be more than $30 million over the life of the project. The property taxes will support schools, public health, fire, library and other necessary services in Kern County. During construction, the project created 216 construction jobs at its peak and resulted in $10.3 million spent locally.
The project reached commercial operation in 2012, and provides 189 megawatts (MW) of clean energy, representing an offset in carbon emissions comparable to removing more than 21,500 cars off of California’s roads each year.
The Big Horn Wind Power Project [fact sheet] is a multi-phase wind farm totaling 249.5 MW located near the community of Bickleton in Klickitat County, Washington. During construction, the two projects created more than 360 jobs at peak. In 2013 alone, the projects combined to deliver local economic benefits exceeding $1.6 million in property tax and land lease payments.
A panel of wind, public power, utility, government, and national laboratory experts elected SVP for the Public Power Wind Award (single utility category) from among seven nominated public power utilities in the United States.
Iberdrola Renewables, LLC is the U.S. renewable energy division of parent company IBERDROLA, S.A., an energy pioneer with the largest renewable asset base of any company in the world. Iberdrola Renewables, LLC is headquartered in Portland, Ore., and has more than $10 billion of operating assets totaling more than 5,800 MW of wind and solar generation. www.iberdrolarenewables.us
Contacts:
Art Sasse, Iberdrola Renewables, 503-796-7740, 503-475-0330
Paul Copleman, Iberdrola Renewables, 207-641-2805, 215-416-9656
About Avangrid: Avangrid, Inc. is a leading energy company in the United States working to meet the growing demand for energy for homes and businesses across the nation through service, innovation, and continued investments by expanding grid infrastructure and energy generation projects. Avangrid has offices in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Maine and Oregon, including operations in 24 states with approximately $47 billion in assets, and has two primary lines of business: networks and renewables. Through its networks business, Avangrid owns and operates eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and New England and in 2024. Through its renewables business, Avangrid owns and operates more than 75 energy generation facilities across the United States producing over 9GW of power for over 2.2 million customers. Avangrid employs approximately 8,000 people and has been recognized by JUST Capital as one of the JUST 100 companies – a ranking of America’s best corporate citizens in 2025 for the fifth consecutive year. The company was named among the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2024 for the sixth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute. Avangrid is a member of the group of companies controlled by Iberdrola, S.A. For more information, visit www.avangrid.com.
About Iberdrola: Iberdrola is one of the world's biggest energy companies and a leader in renewables, spearheading the energy transition to a low carbon economy. The group supplies energy to almost 100 million people in dozens of countries. With a focus on renewable energy, smart networks and smart solutions for customers, Iberdrola’s main markets include Europe (Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy and Greece), the United States, Brazil, Mexico and Australia. The company is also present in growth markets such as Japan, Taiwan, Ireland, Sweden and Poland, among others.
With a workforce of nearly 40,000 and assets in excess of €141.7 billion, across the world, Iberdrola helps to support 400,000 jobs across its supply chain, with annual procurement of €12.2 billion. A benchmark in the fight against climate change, Iberdrola has invested more than €130 billion over the past two decades to help build a sustainable energy model, based on sound environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles.
