2018
Washington state law requires utilities to publish their fuel mix for customers.
The 2018 results for the resources serving Chelan County PUD’s retail customers are shown below.
| Hydroelectric |
95.70% |
| Unspecified1 |
4.27% |
| Wind |
0.03% |
| Total |
100% |
1.The “Unspecified” amount reflects that during certain hours of the year, depending upon demand and hydropower conditions, the PUD is a net purchaser in the wholesale power market. Those market purchases come from a “market mix” of different generating resources. The state’s aggregate mix does not identify energy sources in 2018.
Chelan County PUD does own a share of the Nine Canyon Wind Project. However, the report shows the PUD having a small amount of 0.03 percent wind energy in its fuel mix. That is since the PUD has sold the environmental attributes associated with the Nine Canyon Wind Project through a program known as Renewable Energy Credits (RECs), so wind generation cannot be counted here.
Although Chelan County PUD sponsors the Sustainable Natural Alternative Power (SNAP) program, solar generation is not reported on the fuel mix. Solar panels and wind turbines at schools, nonprofit agencies and private homes and businesses that are part of the SNAP program in Chelan County are not owned by the PUD or purchased with District funds, so SNAP solar generation cannot be counted in the PUD’s fuel mix. In the Northwest Power Pool (Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho) there isn’t enough solar generation to make up even a fractional percentage of the total generation.