Minnesota is a leader in renewable energy - getting 54% of its electricity from zero-carbon sources last year, according to the 2024 Minnesota Energy Factsheet released today. The annual report comes from Clean Energy Economy Minnesota and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy.
Amelia Cerling-Hennes, managing director of public affairs with Clean Energy Economy Minnesota, said that's 12% better than the national average.
"We're really pleased to see about 600 megawatts of wind and solar getting added, and we're anticipating that that's going to be even higher next year as some of the large utility-scale projects that are being built right now kind of come online," she said.
Carbon emissions from the power sector also dropped 54% in 2023 with the retirement of part of the Sherco coal-fired power plant. Electric vehicle registrations went up 55%. Last year, Minnesota-based Cummins began shipping electrolyzers, which generate energy from hydrogen.
Andy Kim, president of the civil engineering firm EVS in Eden Prairie, said battery storage will be increasingly paired with large-scale solar projects in the future.
"You get uninterrupted power, you improve grid stability, and ultimately, it will lead to cost savings. And we see battery storage on at least half of our projects right now. And I would not be surprised if within the next two years, we see it on 80-90% of our projects," Kim said.
Cerling-Hennes adds the state made big strides policy-wise in 2023.
"So much happened last year, starting with passing 100% clean energy by 2040. And then following that up with a really historic energy omnibus bill. We created the Minnesota Climate Innovation Finance Authority. We funded high-voltage transmission," she said.
Tara Narayanan, lead analyst for North American regional trends with Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said energy efficiency is working - electricity consumption went down even as productivity went up. However, she notes that we need to ramp up the clean-energy transition even faster if we are to meet the goals set by the Paris Accords.
"Compare where we are going against where the U.S. has committed to go, we're really not on track. We're really going to have to make dramatic efforts in order to get to where we had committed to be in 2013," Narayanan said.
The state got $800 million in climate funding from President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act.
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Missouri homes and businesses have installed enough solar energy to power 68,000 homes each year.
A new report released by the Solar Energy Industries Association showed more than half of all solar installations in the United States have come online since 2020, with more than 25% installed since the Inflation Reduction Act passed almost two years ago.
Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the association, noted for Missouri farmers and rural residents, the most significant expense is power, needed for pumps, heating grow houses and running equipment.
"They're not paying for the sunshine," Ross Hopper pointed out. "And so, when they install solar to run their pump, or when they install solar on top of a chicken house, it saves an incredible amount of money because they are now using the sun to energize their system."
The report noted in 2012, only California had more than 25,000 solar systems installed. Today, 23 states and territories can make that claim, and 11 have surpassed 100,000 solar installations. More than 38,000 are in Missouri, which ranks 34th in the nation.
Ross Hopper emphasized not only is the growth in solar energy happening quickly, but it is sustained and she predicts it will continue to be.
"It took 40 years for the United States to install a million solar projects, and then it only took eight years to get to 5 million, and that is indicative of the rapid growth," Ross Hopper stressed. "We think it'll only take six years to get to 10 million."
She added the solar industry supports the careers of about 2,900 Missourians and has invested $1.6 billion in the state's economy.
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A new rule from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission could improve Virginia's electric grid transmission capacity.
It requires utilities and grid operators to plan 20 years ahead to accommodate expected changes in energy production. The rule is designed to help Virginia meet the high energy demands of the growing data center market and prevent service disruptions in extreme weather.
Nick Guidi, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the rule will help the state reach its climate goals.
"For the first time in a lot of these states, the transmission planning process will have to explicitly take into account state goals and corporate clean energy goals," Guidi explained. "That hasn't really happened before."
He added the current process holds back state activity. The rule faced sharp criticism from FERC Commissioner Mark Christie. He characterizes it as a way to enact policies never passed by Congress and calls it "a blatant violation of the major questions doctrine." Guidi thinks it could lead to legal challenges.
Another new rule makes transmission siting easier.
Jon Gordon, policy director for the group Advanced Energy United, feels the FERC orders create advancements in transmission infrastructure development, calling it an arduous but necessary process to improve transmission capacity.
"I think as a country we've sort of gotten behind the 8-ball on upgrading our transmission infrastructure," Gordon asserted. "Now we've reached a point where we need to move quickly on transmission upgrades to ensure reliability."
He added more comprehensive long-term transmission planning is needed to ensure the lowest-cost transmission is built for reliability.
Virginia passed legislation making transmission easier. It comes as the state's grid operator, PJM Interconnection, which ranked poorly in a report due to a backlog of interconnection projects. The law means an additional 40% capacity for the current grid and saves the state congestion costs.
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A federal agency today is expected to announce reforms related to the power grid, which is stretched thin as the nation transitions away from fossil fuels.
It's a complex issue clean-energy advocates in the Midwest know far too well.
There's a push to expand transmission lines to accommodate the tidal wave of wind, solar, and other renewable projects.
Rules being unveiled could address the thorny issue of cost-sharing among states for the build-out.
More broadly, the Midwest Renewable Energy Association's Executive Director Nick Hylla said market dynamics are tricky - noting competing interests among utilities and developers in expanding the grid.
He said another issue is protecting wildlife.
"The history of management of transmission lines isn't some solid track record from an environmental-conservation point of view," said Hylla. "We could be doing a much better job in transmission corridors."
In these cases, decarbonization groups and conservationists are at odds with each other. Notably, a recent court ruling is allowing a transmission line project involving Wisconsin to advance.
Hylla said "non-wire alternatives" are emerging to help the movement without turning to the grid.
In Minnesota, Xcel Energy has been testing a program that incentivizes customers to curb energy use during peak demand.
Similar programs are taking shape elsewhere, but industry analysts say these initiatives are navigating their own barriers as they try to get off the ground.
Still, Hylla said an example of this approach along the East Coast is turning some heads.
"It's a BYOB program - Bring Your Own Battery program - that now, over 24,000 customers in three eastern states have subscribed to," said Hylla. "It's basically a subsidy to put a battery in your house and just to make sure that you're not using electricity in peak times. "
As governments, utilities and other entities face pressure to meet climate goals amid soaring demand for electricity, Hylla suggested these solutions will have to work hand-in-hand.
His group is focused on efficiencies, such as rooftop solar, to reshape the distribution of energy.
But he said large-scale renewable projects play a role, too, including the economic benefits for communities in which they're located.
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