10% solar mandate for Minnesota utilities consideredFeb 20 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Leslie Brooks Suzukamo Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
A pair of state lawmakers said Wednesday, Feb. 20, that they will introduce a bill to require the state's utilities to produce 10 percent of their electricity from solar energy by 2030. Backers of the solar mandate said it could raise utility rates by 1 percent. The 10 percent Solar Energy Jobs Act mandate would be structured similarly to the state's current requirement that utilities produce at least 25 percent of their energy from clean, renewable resources by 2025, with 20 percent reserved for wind energy. In a news conference Wednesday at the state Capitol, sponsors of the bills in the House and Senate characterized it as a jobs bill, saying it will create 2,000 jobs in its first year alone. "This bill will create jobs, reduce pollution and make our communities safer and healthier," said state Sen. Chris Eaton, DFL-Brooklyn Center. State Rep. Will Morgan, DFL-Burnsville, author of the House version of the bill, said a solar energy standard also could attract more than $230 million in investments in its first year and create or attract new businesses to Minnesota. The backers said they reached that figure through an analysis done with software developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Morgan said the legislators expect to introduce the bills in each house on Thursday. Minnesota currently has a capacity to generate 13 megawatts from solar sources, less than 1 percent of the state's total generating capacity. To reach the 10 percent goal, the state would have to increase its solar capacity to 5,300 megawatts by 2030, the backers said. The bills allow for the overwhelming majority of the growth to take place late in the life of the mandate, from 2023 to 2030, said Lynn Hinkle, director of policy development for the Minnesota Solar Energy Industries Association, which represents the solar industry. By then, the price of solar panels, which already has dropped dramatically in recent years, should be even cheaper, and the panels are expected to be more efficient at creating electricity, he said. Leslie Brooks Suzukamo can be reached at 651-228-5475. Follow him at twitter.com/suzukamo. |