Your PUD PUD News Line

10/18/2005

Celebrate autumn at Rocky Reach Dam

Chelan County PUD will welcome trick-or-treaters to Rocky Reach Visitor Center for a Safety Harvest on Sunday, Oct. 30, from 1-4:30 p.m. Events will include trick-or-treating, Redmond singing group The Bobbers, Smokey Bear, Sparkey and Chelan County Fire District 1, trick-or-treating safety tips, refreshments and a special appearance by the Spider Queen. Chelan County Sheriff’s Office will provide fingerprinting and photos at no cost. All grade-school children in Chelan and Douglas counties have been invited to share in the safety fun, and all are invited to come in costume.

The Rocky Reach Visitor Center, seven miles north of Wenatchee on Highway 97A, is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday through Thanksgiving. All exhibits are free.

Budget 2006

As part of the 2006 budget process, PUD commissioners are participating in discussions on PUD programs with staff at commission meetings.

No electric or water/wastewater rate increases are proposed. No new debt is forecast, although the PUD may refinance some existing bonds to get lower interest rates.

Soak up the sun

The public is invited to join a tour of Wenatchee solar installations at noon Wednesday, Oct. 19, during the eighth annual Northwest Solar Summit.

The free public tour begins at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center, 123 N. Wenatchee Ave. The tour will also include stops at Wenatchee Valley College and at some of the schools and nonprofit agencies that received solar panels during the last year through the Alcoa Community Solar Endowment and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

The Northwest Solar Summit runs Oct. 17-19. Activities begin with a tour for conference attendees of the Solar Grade Silicon manufacturing plant in Moses Lake at 1 p.m. on Oct. 17. The summit then moves to the St. Laurent Winery at Malaga for a social hour, dinner and keynote address. Other activities take place Tuesday and Wednesday at the Confluence Technology Center and Chateau Faire Le Pont winery at Olds Station.

Conference participants will hear from speakers and join discussion groups on how to stimulate a solar economy in Washington state. Speakers include Tom Starrs, board president of the American Solar Energy Society, and solar equipment makers who will present the latest in solar technology. Mike Nelson of Washington State University will explain the ground-breaking solar power incentives approved by the state Legislature this year. The conference is sponsored by the WSU Energy Center, Northwest Solar Center, Chelan County PUD, Port of Chelan County, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Seattle City Light and Solar Washington.

Cost to attend the conference is $280. To register or for more information, call Jim White at Chelan County PUD, (509) 661-4829, or click here.

Chelan County has the most grid-connected solar power generation of any county in the state.

Stay in touch with your PUD

The PUD’s Web site is in the process of a much-needed overhaul, but in the mean time, 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. You can also take a survey to help us improve our Web site.