Thirty-eight solar panels are planted next to the vegetable garden of Gro Buer and Bruce Williams, new SNAP producers in Leavenworth.

Solar and wind power program relies on customer support

Here’s an easy way to contribute to the “greening” of our valley: Sign up to support Sustainable Natural Alternative Power (SNAP).

Customers who support SNAP agree to pay a little extra each month on their utility bills. These funds go into a pool that are divided once a year among schools, nonprofit agencies and private producers of solar, wind and small-hydro power in Chelan County.

Eight solar producers joined SNAP in the past year, helping push the program to a production record of 175,142 kilowatt hours of energy. The eight new producers, all with fixed solar systems, added 26 kW of capacity. They are:

• Vic Rasmussen, 1521 Medina Pl., Wenatchee
• Gail Mueller, 2986 Lakeshore Dr., Manson
• Gro Buer and Bruce Williams, 8050 E. Leavenworth Road, Leavenworth
• Greg and Mary Steeber, 12512 Wilson St., Leavenworth
• John Smith, 5108 Old Blewett Pass Road, Peshastin
• Harrison Mekeel, 654 Loop Ave., Manson
• Travis Fox, 6555 Pioneer Ave., Cashmere
• Chuck Fowler, 10420 North Road, Leavenworth

Three applications are pending for SNAP installations in Leavenworth, Manson and Wenatchee.

In addition to SNAP payments, producers are taking advantage of generous state-sponsored incentives. Producers using solar modules and inverters manufactured in Washington are eligible for the highest payouts available through the state’s renewable incentive program. Taking advantage of the state incentives, in addition to SNAP, brings a faster return on investment.

The state payments come from the state’s utility tax fund; SNAP payments come from PUD customers interested in renewable energy. Customers contributed $24,674 this past year for payments of 14 cents per kilowatt hour to SNAP producers.

Meet the producers and get program details for 2013 in the SNAP Annual Report.

Jim White talks to Wenatchee fourth-graders about how energy from the sun can power cars and more.

Chelan PUD’s Jim White earns statewide award

Around the office, we think of engineer Jim White as something of a wizard. Now the state has recognized him as a science champion.

White, an indefatigable advocate for solar power and renewable energy,  received the  Science Education Advocate Award from the state LASER program — Leadership and Assistance for Science Education Reform. The award recognizes outstanding individuals who have exhibited exceptional support and advocacy for science education in Washington.

White, a senior energy conservation engineer, has been with Chelan PUD for 15 years. He developed the PUD’s Sustainable Natural Alternative Power (SNAP) program which led the way for small-scale solar installations in the state. He conceived and built a zero-energy trailer used to demonstrate renewable energy and energy efficiency at public events; the trailer is now used by instructors at Shoreline College. 

White built a solar go-kart in his garage which was test-driven by his own children before White used it to visit fourth-grade classrooms as a fun teaching aid. He helped Wenatchee High School students build and race a real solar dragster, and last year led students at Cashmere Middle School in a project to build and race Barbie-doll-size solar cars. He helped a  friend, Marcelo da Luz, drive the  Xof1 solar car over the longest ice road in the world to Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, where the car was used to teach native school children about renewable energy.

He is a sought-after presenter at Earth Day celebrations and school science fairs. When he’s not busy with renewable energy, he’s busy as a Boy Scout leader and volunteer at numerous community projects.

“My hope is that science education in Washington will teach us all how to survive and thrive, without destroying the natural beauty that surrounds us,” White said. When working with children, his goal has always been to make science fun.

To that end, White built a solar popcorn popper and a solar-operated splash fountain. What kid can resist a chance to splash in a fountain on a warm summer day?

The award is given annually to individuals, organizations or projects that show enthusiastic support for science education. Four individuals and one organization received awards this year.

Each received $5,000, to be awarded to the not-for-profit public education entity of their choice. White designated his award for the North Central Educational Service District to buy about 150 reusable solar car kits for classrooms.

The  reward and recognition program are funded by Boeing.

LASER is a public/private partnership launched in 1999. The Washington State LASER partnership is led by the Strategic Programs Division of Pacific Science Center in Seattle and the Office of Science & Engineering Education at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

White talks about the importance of science education on the LASER website here.

Solar modules at the home of Bruce Williams and Gro Buer, 8050 East Leavenworth Road, will be part of the Cascade Medical Center Foundation's tour on Sept. 9.

The home of SNAP producers Bruce Williams and Gro Buer is one of six featured in the Cascade Medical Foundation’s 17th Annual Home and Garden Tour on Sunday, Sept . 9, from noon to 5 p.m. in Leavenworth.

Williams and Buer have been Sustainable Natural Alternative Power producers since July. They operate a 7-kilowatt installation behind their home at 8050 East Leavenworth Road.

Information about the SNAP program will be available at the tour. SNAP links Chelan PUD customers who want to support the development of solar and wind power with customers interested in producing that power. The program includes 46 producers of solar power and two wind power generators.

Homes and gardens in the tour are among the most beautiful in the Leavenworth area, said Chris Clark, tour chairman. The tour is a fundraiser for the Family Practice Clinic. Tickets are $20 per person. Tickets are available at Cascade Medical Center’s Admitting Desk, 817 Commercial St., Leavenworth, and will be available at the individual homes on the day of the tour. Visitors can begin the tour at any of the homes.

Find more information on the Cascade Medical Foundation website, or call or email Clark at (509) 860-1963,  imbikin@gmail.com.

Sign up to support SNAP – Chelan PUD’s solar and wind energy program – and receive a free solar-powered “happy flower” for your desktop or windowsill. Drop by any PUD office to sign up and collect your fun flower.

Under SNAP, customers voluntarily pay a little extra on their utility bills. These customer donations are collected by the PUD and distributed once a year to our 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.

Sign up to have a contribution added to your monthly electric bill, and pick up your “happy flower.” Don’t delay: Offer available while supplies last.

Watch the flowers in action: Flower Power video

Alvaro Lima with his winning solar model car

Ken doll ‘drives’ model solar car 

Seventh-grader Alvaro Lima won the first-ever Solar Sprint at Cashmere Middle School on March 23 with a streamlined super cruiser piloted by a Ken doll with a bad haircut.

(My Ken doll had plastic hair molded into his plastic head. This one had a Beatles bowl cut. Go figure.)

But back to the story: After a series of heats that eliminated all but two contestants, Lima literally jumped for joy when his model solar car sprinted across the finish line on the middle school tennis courts. “I told you I would win,” he shouted to aide Daniz Lopez, who helped him build and race the car.

The race was the culmination of a project that began in February. Jim White, a Chelan County PUD engineer, and Eric Sydenstricker, PUD technician, visited the school once a week to help students in Bob Martin’s seventh grade science class build their own solar-powered model cars.

The solar experiment is part of a pilot program that has Chelan PUD employees working with four middle schools this year. It’s a joint effort with the North Central Educational Service District to build future scientists and PUD workers. Students at each school have chosen their own science projects. Cashmere’s was the first to be completed. The other middle schools and their projects are:

• Entiat, where students are building a real hovercraft. They’ve performed lab work to measure force and power, developed a simple motor circuit, and tested differences between batteries in parallel and series.

• Pioneer in Wenatchee, where students are investigating underwater welding and mechanics. They’ve learned about Boyle’s Law and conducted experiments using small chambers built by PUD divers.

• Orchard in Wenatchee. These young scientists are building a replica of Rocky Reach Dam. So far they’ve built electro magnets that demonstrate how current flow creates a magnetic field, and they’ve learned about hydraulics and kinetic energy.

The learning and fun continue into the first week of summer vacation, when the seventh-graders are invited to attend the new Action Academy at Rocky Reach. For four half days during the week of June 18, they’ll show off their projects, tour the dam, and hear about careers in science.

Related: “Where relativity meets reality” (Wenatchee World)