Your PUD PUD News Line

2/14/2006

CTC declaration approved

PUD commissioners Monday approved an amendment to the condominium declaration for the Confluence Technology Center, 25 percent of which is owned by the PUD.

The amendment will allow California-based Internet company Yahoo! to renovate the building to accommodate offices and data-storage related facilities in a 45,000-square-foot portion of the CTC. The Port of Chelan County, a 75-percent owner of the CTC, and Yahoo! on Thursday signed a 10-year, $6.23-million lease for a large portion of the remaining unoccupied space at the CTC. The lease provided a Feb. 15 date to meet the contingency of necessary amendments to the declaration.

Said Commissioner Ann Congdon: “I think that Yahoo! is the one who really should be jumping up and down saying, ’Yahoo,' we get to come to Wenatchee and get to take advantage of that cheap power…and take advantage of the best quality of life anywhere.’ My hope is that they will be good community members, good neighbors and they’ll appreciate what we have to offer here in Wenatchee.”

Approval of a common area use agreement for the CTC with details addressing construction will come before commissioners in March after details of Yahoo!’s construction plans are reviewed by PUD staff.

Preliminary year-end numbers for 2005 look good

Chief Financial Officer Joe Jarvis reported to commissioners last month that:

• Distribution net revenues were $19.5 million, with $5.1 million budgeted
• Distribution reserves were $110.9 million, in contrast with $90.5 at the end of 2004
• The cost to produce power was $16.20 per megawatt hour, versus $16.70 for 2004
• Water/Wastewater net revenues were $218,000, the first time the water system has had positive net revenues
• Networks net revenues were $100,000 more than budgeted for the year
• Capital costs were $59.1 million, below the $72.3 budgeted

PUD commissioners support Monitor water project

PUD commissioners have endorsed a $1.6 million federal grant application to extend PUD water service to the Monitor area, provided that the community supports the project once a financing package is assembled to pay for construction. The cost of the new water system is estimated at $6 million.

This grant application is unique in that it involves a direct request to the state’s congressional delegation. The commissioners' vote is intended to send a clear signal to Washington, D.C., of their support for the application.

The project has already received a $500,000 state grant, reflecting Monitor’s need for safe drinking water as the highest priority in the state. Several other grant applications are pending, said Jeff Smith, PUD community and intergovernmental relations director. Chelan County is leading the application for another $1 million grant.

Camera will catch salmon predators in the act

The PUD will purchase an acoustic camera to investigate predators’ effect on juvenile salmon as they enter Rocky Reach Dam’s surface collector, which leads the fingerlings to the fish bypass.

Staff believes that predators may cause some young fish to turn away from the collector’s entrance, not allowing them to take the 4,600-foot trip around the face of the dam and into deep waters below it.

The camera will produce high-resolution images to distinguish between smolts, predators and debris near the entrance to the surface collector. Images produced by the camera could help PUD biologists find better ways to deter predators and encourage young salmon to enter the bypass system.

Normal snowpack should ensure Lake Chelan will refill by July 1

With the Feb. 1 snowpack readings at or near normal in the mountains above Lake Chelan, there should be more than enough runoff this spring to refill the lake by July 1.

The February forecast for runoff into the lake from April through July is 110 percent of normal at 1.1 million acre-feet. That’s 204 percent of last year’s actual runoff, said Scott Buehn, PUD power resource engineer.

The lake level on Feb. 1 was 1,088.65 feet above sea level. That is 1.2 feet higher than normal, due to heavy rain and snow in January. Weather service forecasts for precipitation through April are 110-115 percent of normal. Those two factors should ensure plenty of water for refilling Lake Chelan by July 1, Buehn said. Conditions of the FERC license require the lake to be refilled to 1,098 feet above sea level by July 1.

In light of the strong runoff forecast, the Chelan powerhouse is expected to generate at full capacity until the lake is full this spring.

The Lake Chelan basin runoff forecast is for April 1-July 31. The forecast is based on precipitation since October 2005 and snowpack readings at four sites. Records have been kept since 1928.

Chelan County PUD also operates two large hydroelectric dams on the Columbia: Rocky Reach and Rock Island dams, and the Northwest River Forecast Center’s Feb. 7, runoff forecast for the Columbia River at Grand Coulee is 100 percent of average through July.

Click here to watch Lake Chelan levels and here for local river flows.

General manager search

Jerrold Oldani, a senior vice president of Waters-Oldani Executive Recruitment of Dallas, was hired by commissioners late last year to help with the search for a new general manager. Oldani reports that he has received more than 50 applications so far. Commissioners hope to have a finalist by April.

Stay in touch with your PUD

We’ve made it easier to get important information about the PUD on one page. Go to our Web site, www.chelanpud.org, and click on the PUD logo at the top of the page to visit On the Record. This page also includes more information on the search for a new general manager.

Residents of Chelan County can now find out in seconds if they are in a fiber-optic build zone. Click on the map to access the PUD’s fiber-optics mapping feature.