SEEDZ Initiative Overview

The Smart Energy Enterprise Development Zone (SEEDZ), launched in 2012, was a program of the Climate Prosperity initiative which resulted from an in-depth study of local conditions and a user-driven needs assessment. A whitepaper summarizing the initiative, entitled “Uniting Performance and Sustainability in the Power Network of the Future”, was published in November of that year. The smart energy portion of the name reflected its intent to explore and pilot technologies, policies, and programs to increase power quality, reliability, and independence, while increasing access to renewable energy. The enterprise development zone referred to a geographic focus for much of the work in the greater Moffett Field area, including the North Bayshore area of Mountain View and the Moffett Business Park area of Sunnyvale.

SEEDZ worked on several projects, including piloting an energy quality portal and studying landfill gas and community solar. As the program evolved, one high-impact issue surfaced in the climate actions plans of the cities in the zone: significantly increasing the percentage of clean and renewable energy sources for their residents and businesses. A policy vehicle to achieve this goal, the formation of a community choice energy agency, became a key objective for the group. Joint Venture partnered with the cities of Cupertino, Mountain View and Sunnyvale, as well as the County of Santa Clara, to hold educational seminars and perform business community outreach in support of the community choice program, now known as Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE). It grew to include 6 additional cities within the county and became an official agency in mid-2016.

The work of the SEEDZ initiative has now largely been subsumed into SVCE, and the Joint Venture SEEDZ Director, Don Bray, became an employee of SCVE in November 2016 to help them advance those objectives. A record of the program's work is contained below.

Joint Venture's Smart Energy Enterprise Development (SEEDZ) Initiative united local energy customers, solution providers, municipalities, institutions and utility interests in building a smart energy network, characterized by the highest levels of power reliability, quality, affordability and sustainability. SEEDZ encompassed a portfolio of essential smart energy elements, including practices, standards, and technologies for efficiency, renewable energy, grid performance and business model integration.

A wide range of stakeholder groups came together on SEEDZ projects, including major corporate energy customers, governmental entities, utility interests, research institutions and solution providers. Under the initiative, specific projects focused on shared opportunities and challenges involving multiple energy-related stakeholders. Broadly, these projects included scaling of leading practices, establishment of critical standards, and deployment of shared solutions, programs and advanced infrastructure. Among its aims were to:

Improve Reliability and Affordability	Implement new capabilities, models, and processes for efficient utilization of grid energy assets, improved reliability and affordability
Advance Sustainability	Reduce local GHG emissions via expanded use of grid-effective clean and distributed sources of energy, and increased electrification of transportation
Expand Market Opportunity	Provide global market expansion and brand enhancement for Silicon Valley companies deploying advanced energy, information, and transport solutions
Attract Investment	Attract additional energy-related technology companies, investment and research funding as a hub for development/deployment of advanced solutions
Accelerate Climate Prosperity	Accelerate sustainable deployment of smart energy, return measurable benefits to participants, provide leadership and a replicable model for other regions