The Donald Von Raesfeld Power Plant (DVRPP) is a natural gas power plant in
Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...
, operated by
Silicon Valley Power
Silicon Valley Power (SVP) is a not-for-profit municipal electric utility owned and operated by the City of Santa Clara, California, USA. SVP provides electricity service to approximately 55,116 residential and business customers, including larg ...
. Located near the
San Jose International Airport
Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport , commonly known simply as San Jose International Airport, is a city-owned public airport in San Jose, California, United States. It is named after San Jose native Norman Mineta, former United S ...
it began operations in 2005 with a peak capacity of 147 megawatts.
DVRPP is a two-on-one combined cycle power plant, combining the output of two 50 MW combustion turbines with one 22MW steam turbine. The steam is generated from the heated exhaust from each combustion turbine, and steam output may be increased to meet peaking demands by using exhaust duct-mounted natural gas burners.
Infrastructure co-location
Santa Clara has been touted as the "data center capital of Silicon Valley" in part spurred by low power rates from Silicon Valley Power. DVRPP, along with a major
Silicon Valley Power
Silicon Valley Power (SVP) is a not-for-profit municipal electric utility owned and operated by the City of Santa Clara, California, USA. SVP provides electricity service to approximately 55,116 residential and business customers, including larg ...
substation a block away, provide redundant high capacity power sources. In close proximity are major long-haul hubs for several Tier 1
Internet backbone
The Internet backbone may be defined by the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected computer networks and core routers of the Internet. These data routes are hosted by commercial, government, academic and other high-ca ...
providers for redundant high capacity Internet connection. Many large private and co-location
data centers are located in or near Santa Clara,
specifically the area surrounding DVRPP bounded by Hwy 101, Lafayette St, Central Expressway, Scott Boulevard and San Tomas Expressway.
See also
*
List of power stations in California
This is a list of power stations in the U.S. state of California that are used for utility-scale electricity generation. This includes baseload, peaking, and energy storage power stations, but does not include large backup generators. , Calif ...
References
Natural gas-fired power stations in California
Buildings and structures in Santa Clara, California
Economy of Santa Clara, California
Science and technology in the San Francisco Bay Area
2005 establishments in California
Environment of the San Francisco Bay Area
Energy in the San Francisco Bay Area
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