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Students use 3D glasses to view the color spectrum.

PUD experts help students make sense of science

Attention Cashmere Middle School parents: If your seventh grader asks you for permission to ski behind a solar-powered car over the frozen highways of Canada, blame Jim White.

White, a Chelan County PUD engineer, and Eric Sydenstricker, PUD technician, are helping students in Bob Martin’s seventh grade science class build their own solar-powered model cars. To introduce the concept, White showed the class a YouTube video of him ice-skiing behind a car that operates totally on solar energy. Not to be outdone, Sydenstricker led the class outdoors, putting his radio-controlled monster truck through a parking-lot snow bank to show off its road skills.

Pretty cool stuff, huh?

The Cashmere demonstration in January kicked off a pilot program that’s bringing PUD employees into classrooms at four middle schools this year. Ruth Erwert, recruiting program manager and Bob Bauer, communications specialist at the PUD, brought the idea to the North Central Educational Service District (ESD). Mechelle LaLanne, ESD science coordinator, worked with teachers and ESD staff to develop the program. Erwert’s goal is to make students aware of career opportunities and “build a pipeline of future workers,” she said. LaLanne’s goal is to place experts in the classrooms to complement the curriculum, which in seventh grade focuses on energy, machines and motion.

The other middle schools and their projects are:

Entiat, where students are working with teacher Kevin Jones to learn about electrical circuits and how they operate mechanical devices. PUD experts offering help and encouragement are John Sagerser, Paul Resler and Cheryl Hobson.

Pioneer in Wenatchee. Under teacher Carolyn Dotter, students plan to investigate the challenges of underwater welding and mechanics. PUD divers Donnie Lane and Brent Thrapp are assisting.

Orchard in Wenatchee. Teacher Dan Myers is working with his students to build a working model of Rocky Reach Dam. PUD employees on that project are Dan Martyn, Tim Halliday, Andy Lolos and Eric Ostrom.

PUD staff will be in the classrooms once a week for six to eight weeks. Then as soon as school is out, students can attend the Action Academy at Rocky Reach. For four half days during the week of June 18, they’ll show-and-tell about their projects, take tours of the dam, talk about how their classroom work correlates to work at the dam, and hear from more PUD staff about career options in other fields.

“Whether students attend a four-year college, a technical school, or stay in the community and apply for an apprenticeship or entry-level job, we want them to realize there are opportunities with our utility,” Erwert said.

This small photovoltaic system in Nahahum Canyon near Cashmere was one of four new solar installations added to the SNAP program in 2011.

Note: An earlier version of this story provided an incorrect figure for the number of new producers. The error has been corrected in this version.

Chelan County PUD’s SNAP program added five new private producers in 2011 — the most in any one year since SNAP began in 2001.

The PUD operates three hydropower projects so already is into renewable hydropower in a big way. SNAP — short for Sustainable Natural Alternative Power –  focuses on small-scale solar and wind power. 

A total of 47 schools, nonprofit agencies and individuals are producing power for the PUD through SNAP. Five new private producers joined the program in 2011: John Alt of Entiat, Dennis Vogt of Chelan, Regge Egger of Plain, Lauren Johnson and Barbara Rossing of Leavenworth, and Shlomo Freiman and Mindy Stern, who have a summer home in Cashmere. The five are generating solar with rooftop and pole-mounted systems; together they added 22 kilowatts of capacity to the SNAP program. 

Three of the four new producers are using solar modules and inverters manufactured in Washington state, making them eligible for the highest payouts available through the state’s renewable incentive program. Taking advantage of the state program, in addition to SNAP, brings an earlier payback and helps make the investment in solar equipment more cost-effective. 

While state payments come from the state’s utility tax fund, SNAP payments come from green-minded PUD customers who want to see new renewable resources developed. In the 2010-11 production year, customers contributed $25,506 to SNAP. 

There’s a place on the electric bill where customers can sign up to support SNAP in any amount. There’s also a spot on the PUD website where customers can sign up.  

The website is also the place to go if you’re looking for information on becoming a SNAP producer, or want to see facts and photos about producers in the program. 

In 2010-11, producers generated 117,792 kilowatt hours of electricity. To put that in perspective, that’s the average annual use of about six homes in Chelan County. “While that’s not a lot of power, that’s really not the point of the program,” said Susan Gillin, SNAP coordinator. “The point is to plant the seeds for a future resource that, as time goes by, will become more and more viable.”

Chelan County PUD’s Lightly e-newsletter has joined the Facebook crowd. Find it at www.Facebook.com/LightlyNewsAndTips.

A summary of stories from the Lightly blog is sent to subscribers in an e-mail newsletter every other month. Now readers can get updates and give comments more frequently via Facebook.

Got a burning question about fuel costs? Need a little light shed on compact fluorescent light bulbs? Want money back on buying new windows? Ask, learn and take action with help from Lightly.

Pledge $4 and receive four Apple Sox baseball tickets

Chelan PUD’s SNAP program is sponsoring the Apple Sox game July 22, and customers who sign up to support SNAP can attend for free.

Pledge $4 a month for SNAP (Sustainable Natural Alternative Power) and receive four tickets to the game against the Bend Elks.

Tickets are available to the first 100 customers who agree to begin contributing $4 a month, or increase their existing contributions by $4 a month, for six months. The limit is four tickets per household.

SNAP is the PUD’s award-winning solar and wind power program. Under the program, customers voluntarily pay a little extra on their utility bills. These customer donations are collected by the PUD and distributed once a year to SNAP producers –45  individuals, schools and nonprofit agencies that are generating solar and wind power. Renewable energy generated by SNAP producers goes into the PUD’s electrical grid and is distributed to PUD customers.

 In addition to great local baseball, the game will feature the PUD’s popular solar splash fountain and drawings for energy-saving items for your home. Game time is 7:05 p.m.

Sign up at any Chelan PUD office  in Wenatchee, Chelan or Leavenworth or on our website by July 18. Help SNAP hit a home run while you root for the home team!

SNAP's newest solar installation at the John Alt home in Entiat can generate up to 4.68 kilowatts of energy

2011 marks the 10^th year for Chelan County PUD’s Sustainable Natural Alternative Power (SNAP) program. The program connects customers who want to produce solar and wind power with other local customers who want to support the development of new, renewable energy. 

Under the program, customers voluntarily pay a little extra on their utility bills. These customer donations are collected by the PUD and distributed once a year to SNAP producers — individuals, schools and nonprofit agencies that are generating solar and wind power. Renewable energy generated by SNAP producers goes into the PUD’s electrical grid and is distributed to PUD customers. 

SNAP started with a 340-watt solar installation owned by Randy and Anne Brooks of Chelan. The program now has 44 solar, wind and small-hydro producers with a generating capacity of 83 kilowatts. John and Annette Alt are the SNAP’s newest solar producers, placing 24 roof-mounted panels on a shop building behind their Columbia riverfront home in Entiat. Their system was connected in March. 

Customers who produce energy for SNAP are helping grow a new, renewable resource to complement our already abundant hydropower. Click here to learn about becoming a SNAP producer. Customers who support SNAP are helping build a base of renewable energy in Chelan County. They’re helping diversify our energy resources as well as our economy. Click here to become a SNAP supporter.