Because Chelan County
PUD at times buys electricity from a variety of sources
throughout the Pacific Northwest, state reporting requirements
obligate the PUD to include as part of its fuel mix a
calculated percentage of the various sources that generated
that purchased power. Total Chelan County load shown in the far right column of the top grid comes from the fuel sources listed. More than 98 percent of local load supplied by the PUD is from hydroelectric generation.
Although Chelan County PUD sponsors the Sustainable Natural
Alternative Power (SNAP) program, solar generation is reported
as 0 percent. 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.
Chelan County PUD does own a share of the Nine Canyon Wind
Project. But the report shows the PUD having 0 percent wind
energy in its fuel mix. That's because the District 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.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Chelan County PUD has no
coal generation. But the PUD's market purchases are deemed
under state reporting requirements to take on a regional
“fuel mix” and so are included here.
