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Chelan County Public Utility District’s SNAP Program
Location: Chelan County, Washington
Owner: Schools, non-profit agencies, and private residences
Capacity: Approximately 95 kW
Modules: Sharp 165W, RWE Schott, Model SAPC-165
Online: since 2001
Developer: Chelan County Public Utility District
Cost: Approximately $1,110,000
In August 2001 Chelan County Public Utility District (PUD) launched the Sustainable Natural Alternative Power (SNAP) program that links PUD customers who want to support the development of renewable energy with local producers of that energy. The program generated 30,722 kWh of electricity in 2002-03 and 34,329 kWh in 2003-2004.
About 900 Chelan County PUD customers are SNAP purchasers. They agree to pay from $2.50 to $50 a month on their energy bills for SNAP to, in effect, purchase solar and wind power from grid-connected installations in the community.
In July 2003, Alcoa’s Wenatchee Works announced a major new program to fund the installation of solar panels at schools and nonprofit agencies in cooperation with the PUD’s SNAP program. In 2004, Alcoa provided direct funds to purchase $439,740 in solar power equipment, plus arrange for labor valued at $666,810 by Alcoa employees to install the solar systems. McCandlish Electric of Wenatchee was also involved in the installations.
In May 2004, Volunteers from Alcoa’s Wenatchee Works installed eight solar panels with total capacity of 1.3kW at Wenatchee High School. The high school is the first public school in Chelan County to receive the panels under Alcoa’s Community Solar Endowment. St. Joseph’s School, a private school in Wenatchee, also received a 1.3kW system at about the same time.
PV systems have been installed at 26 schools and six nonprofit agencies through Alcoa’s Community Solar Endowment. These installations together with existing solar SNAP producers yield a total PV capacity of about 95 kW.
Payments to the participants for the energy generated are made through the SNAP program. Half the revenue from solar power generation at each site is returned to the school or nonprofit organization. The other half is placed into a trust fund to be used at Alcoa’s discretion for community projects.
Overall there are more than 40 solar installations in the SNAP program, in addition to small wind and small hydro projects. In 2005, SNAP producers earned more than $32,000 in payments and credits for their clean energy. These payments were collected from approximately 900 voluntary PUD customers involved in the SNAP program.
References and Additional Information:
Chelan PUD’s SNAP Program
