MAKING SOLAR ENERGY COST-EFFECTIVE TODAY IS A SNAP

摘要

An electric utility in Washington state has come up with a simple way to make solar energy cost-effective, without raising rates, in an area with some of the cheapest power in the nation. This paper explains how the award-winning SNAP (Sustainable Natural Alternative Power) program works. Instead of expensive and heavily bureaucratic give-away rebate programs, SNAP relies on free-market supply and demand principles to make solar-generated energy cost-effective. SNAP has proven successful at getting a relatively large amount of solar power systems installed at the least possible cost. The performance-based approach taken by Chelan County Public Utility District (PUD) is similar to Germany's very successful "feed-in tariff' program. SNAP differs from the German program in that it uses market forces to determine the price of solar power instead of prices set by the government or electric utility. This market rate for solar energy is determined by simply dividing the total annual dollars in the SNAP fund by the total number of solar kilowatt hours generated that year. At Chelan County PUD, funds for the SNAP program come from voluntary monthly donations by customers. A SNAP fund could also be created by a federal, state, city, or local government designating a small percentage of utility revenue to promote the development of locally produced, customer-owned solar power generation.