This week, the Twin Cities is experiencing what may be a once-in-a-lifetime event. Downtown Minneapolis is alive with the nation’s premier clean energy innovators for the American Clean Power Association’s CLEANPOWER Conference. Simultaneously, an important bipartisan clean energy bill is working its way through the Minnesota Legislature.
CLEANPOWER is bringing together policymakers, industry leaders and renewable energy experts from across the country, and Minneapolis is a wise choice to host this illustrious crowd. There is figurative power to our natural resources — like the ‘Mighty Mississippi’ and the winds of the Buffalo Ridge — and literal power: Minnesota ranks 10th nationally in clean energy production.
Last year, Minnesota joined only six other states, plus the District of Columbia, in committing itself to 100% clean electricity by 2040. Getting there may sound herculean, and it will take some very deliberate action and coordination among state leaders, but it is doable.
Standing in the way is the region’s lack of adequate transmission infrastructure, which has led to significant congestion on the power grid. This hampers development of new clean energy projects that create jobs and generate tax revenue to communities that host them. The cumbersome and lengthy permitting process for essential new transmission infrastructure is impeding our ability to deliver the 100% clean energy future that Minnesota pledged to achieve.
Congestion and delays for expanding transmission infrastructure means low-cost wind and solar energy are wasted when there is no room on transmission lines for it to be delivered. This costs ratepayers money.
There’s vast potential to generate more clean energy when we have enough transmission to deliver it.
There is a solution. We need our elected officials to pass the Minnesota Energy Infrastructure Permitting Act. The legislation will save money and “could reduce overall permitting times for wind, solar, and transmission projects by more than a year,” according to House Majority Leader Jamie Long. We commend Rep. Long, Sen. Frentz, and Rep. Acomb for leading on this important issue.
This bipartisan bill is the product of a stakeholder group commissioned by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission with the assistance and participation of our teams at Clean Grid Alliance and LIUNA. The stakeholder group represented 32 organizations, including state agencies, environmental advocates, property rights organizations, labor groups, developers and utilities who worked together to advance this reform.
The group identified over 30 ideas for improvements to the process and coalesced around a package of 12 core reform recommendations that will combine to make Minnesota’s permitting process significantly more timely, efficient, and cost-effective without diminishing public input or community involvement. The Minnesota Energy Infrastructure Permitting Act is built around these 12 core reforms.
We are counting on legislative leaders and the Governor to make sure this bill becomes law this session. There is no time to waste. The road to 100% clean energy by 2040 is achievable and we have the roadmap in front of us. We just need to implement the right legislation.
Peder Mewis is the regional policy director for Clean Grid Alliance. Kevin Pranis is the marketing manager for the Laborers’ International Union of North America in Minnesota and North Dakota, the chair of Minnesota’s Clean Transportation Standard Work Group and a member of Gov. Tim Walz’s Climate Advisory Council.
