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Fire Weather Forecasted 

Due to current weather forecasts, a Red Flag Warning has been issued for Kittitas Valley. As part of PSE’s wildfire safe operations, we will be turning on system settings that are more sensitive to potential hazards. These sensitive settings will be activated Friday morning and will remain in effect as long as elevated wildfire risk conditions persist.

Enhanced Powerline Settings are designed to help keep you safe, but they may result in unplanned power outages.

This is NOT a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS), where we proactively turn off power in advance of severe weather.

We understand the impact unexpected outages can have on our customers, so we've added additional staffing for our first responders and our operations center. For more information or to report a power outage, visit PSE’s Outage map.

Due to numerous wildfires in eastern and central Washington, air quality across the Kittitas Valley is currently within the unhealthy range. Wildfire smoke can seriously affect health, especially for high-risk individuals. To learn more about how to protect yourself and others, please visit the Washington State Department of Health page on staying safe from smoke.

  

Safety first. Never touch or go within 35 feet of downed power lines because they might be energized. Call PSE at 1-888-225-5773 or 911 to report problems.

Report and track power outages online

Solar power

Though we see plenty of rain and clouds here in Western Washington, solar power promises a bright future for our region. In the past few years, more than 5,500 Puget Sound Energy customers have installed their own solar-energy systems. And the number of people going solar continues to grow.

It's not just our region's long and sunny summer days that suit the generation of solar-powered electricity. Solar panels can produce power (at lower levels) even under gray, wintery skies. 

Our customers not only are generating electricity to light their homes and businesses, but many earn net-metering bill credits from us when their solar systems produce more power than the customers are using.

To help demonstrate the viability of solar power in the Northwest, PSE built a 502 kW solar array in 2007 at our Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility in Kittitas County.

PSE is currently developing the 142 MW Appaloosa Solar Project within the footprint of our existing Lower Snake River wind farm in Garfield County, WA. Construction is expected to begin in 2025 with commercial operation beginning in late 2026.

Fast facts about Wild Horse

  • Features 2,723 photovoltaic solar panels

  • Includes the first made-in-Washington solar panels—315 panels made by Silicon Energy in Arlington

  • Produces power even under cloudy skies—50 to 70 percent of peak output with bright overcast and 5 to 10 percent with dark overcast

Learn more
 

    How solar power works 

    Sunlight hits two layers of semiconductor material, producing a difference in electrical potential, or voltage, between the layers. The voltage then drives current through an external electrical circuit.



Solar