Silicon Valley Clean Energy CEO named Champion of the Year

Santa Clara County cities association honors nonprofit head.

The Cities Association of Santa Clara County recently named Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) CEO Girish Balachandran the 2023 Champion of the Year. The award recognizes one elected official and one community leader for their leadership and committed service to Santa Clara County cities.

Mountain View Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga, who is the cities association board chair and an SVCE board member, presented the award to Balachandran at the association’s 33rd annual holiday party on Dec.14.

“Girish has led SVCE with excellence over the last six years. He has grown the organization, led through the COVID-19 pandemic and brought the agency to financial stability and strength while achieving its mission of providing clean electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes and corporations within its vast service area,” Abe-Koga said. “He has shown great talent in working with diverse agencies and board members, which has enabled SVCE to successfully contribute to each city’s drastic reduction of carbon emissions.”

Balachandran, who announced his retirement last year from the Sunnyvale-based green energy aggregator, noted that the cities association was a catalyst in the formation of SVCE. “During that time, local leaders recognized the need to cut regional carbon emissions, and I have been inspired by the unwavering commitment of these communities to a clean energy future,” he said in a statement.

During his tenure at SVCE, Girish guided the development of a Decarbonization Strategy and Programs Roadmap that set a course for the nonprofit to reduce the use of fossil fuels for transportation and buildings. With these efforts, member communities have reduced energy-related emissions by 23% from 2015, and SVCE has invested over $3.6 billion for 20 renewable energy contracts.