Your PUD
News Release
Earth Day celebrated with payments to wind and solar producers
Chelan County PUD
News Release
4/25/2005
Checks or credits were mailed last Friday, Earth Day, to 24 producers of wind and solar power in the PUD’s SNAP – Sustainable Natural Alternative Power – program. Payments for power produced from April 2004 to April 2005 totaled $32,092, all contributed by voluntary supporters who are PUD customers.
Among the payments were about $3,500 to the Bank of America Performing Arts Center in Wenatchee and about $5,500 to the Alcoa Foundation, which will use the funds for community programs.
The Alcoa Foundation, the IBEW and the PUD have also collaborated on a project to install solar panels at 31 schools and nonprofit agencies in Chelan County. The foundation invested about $1 million in materials and labor. Proceeds from the power produced are shared by the agency or school and the foundation.
Once the project is complete, Chelan County will have the most solar generation of any county in the state.
In other business, commissioners:
- Heard from Thomas Krueger and Barry Bush of Energy Northwest about a feasibility study by the agency on building a power plant that would gasify coal or petroleum coke to produce 300 to 600 megawatts of electricity. Krueger said the agency is investigating the project in light of rapidly rising natural gas prices and growing regional demand for electricity. Chelan County PUD is a member of Energy Northwest. Krueger said members will be asked for an endorsement of the project by July.
- Approved an agreement with Wenatchee Valley College to provide computer training for PUD employees at the college’s Confluence Technology Center computer lab. Steve Currit, PUD facilities director, said the college’s rate of $16 an hour for use of the lab is less than it would cost for the PUD to maintain its own lab. The college can also provide instructors. The three-year agreement is capped at $150,000. Currit said it benefits the PUD, by allowing it to use current training space for other needs, and uses the college lab during the day, when demand for student classes is less.
- Received an update on new agreements between the PUD and landowners who use the PUD-owned section of the Dryden canal to access irrigation water. The PUD owns the first two miles of the canal, originally built to power the old Dryden Dam, and which now delivers water to the Wenatchee Reclamation District and feeds the PUD’s fish acclimation pond. Landowners withdrawing water from the PUD’s portion of the canal will be asked to pay an annual maintenance fee, based on similar fees charged by the reclamation district.
- Were invited to observe the first “Wenatchi Way of Life” program for third-graders at Rocky Reach Dam on Friday, April 29. The pilot program to introduce students to Native American culture is a partnership between the PUD and the Colville Confederated Tribes. In half-hour classes, tribal members will discuss the cultural significance of the four seasons, and PUD Fish and Wildlife staff will explain what the PUD does each season to support the goals of the Habitat Conservation Plans and to protect the environment and fish and wildlife. About 260 students from Vale Elementary in Cashmere, Osborn Elementary in Leavenworth and Paschal Sherman Indian School in Omak are taking part.
- Approved a letter of thanks to Congressman Doc Hastings, R-Washington, for his key support of hydropower language in the federal energy bill passed by the U.S. House on April 21. Hastings fended off attempts by U.S. Rep. John Dingell of Michigan to strip language from the bill bringing more parity to hydro producers and still provide the same level of environmental protection. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
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The next meeting of the PUD Board of Commissioners is at 1 p.m. on May 2 in the boardroom.
Most PUD commission meetings are recorded, and a link to the audio is available on the PUD’s home page at www.chelanpud.org.
Kimberlee Craig
Public Information Officer
661-4320, direct line
679-6858, cell
kimc@chelanpud.org