Minnesota Archives | Energy News Network https://energynews.us/tag/minnesota/ Covering the transition to a clean energy economy Thu, 15 Aug 2024 19:55:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://energynews.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon-large-32x32.png Minnesota Archives | Energy News Network https://energynews.us/tag/minnesota/ 32 32 153895404 A St. Paul, Minnesota Habitat for Humanity project will offer affordable housing without fossil fuels https://energynews.us/2024/08/16/a-st-paul-minnesota-project-will-offer-affordable-housing-without-fossil-fuels/ Fri, 16 Aug 2024 10:00:00 +0000 https://energynews.us/?p=2314117 A rendering showing an aerial view of six-story block of apartments with solar panels on the roof.

The Heights, a 147-unit Habitat for Humanity development on a former golf course, expected to be one of the largest net-zero communities in the Midwest, will not include hookups for natural gas.

A St. Paul, Minnesota Habitat for Humanity project will offer affordable housing without fossil fuels is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

]]>
A rendering showing an aerial view of six-story block of apartments with solar panels on the roof.

Construction is underway in St. Paul, Minnesota, on a major affordable housing development that will combine solar, geothermal and all-electric appliances to create one of the region’s largest net-zero communities.

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity broke ground in June on a four-block, 147-unit project on the site of a former golf course that’s being redeveloped by the city and its port authority, which made the decision to forgo gas hookups. 

Affordable housing and Habitat for Humanity builds in particular have become a front line in the fight over the future of gas. The organization has faced criticism in other communities for accepting fossil fuel industry money and partnering with utilities on “net-zero” homes that include gas appliances. It’s also built several all-electric projects using advanced sustainable construction methods and materials.

The scale of the Twin Cities project is what makes it exciting, according to St. Paul’s chief resilience officer Russ Stark. 

“We’ve had plenty of motivated folks build their own all-electric homes, but they’re one-offs,” he said. “There haven’t been many, if any, at scale.”

Stark added that the project, known as The Heights, was made possible by the federal Inflation Reduction Act. 

“I think it’s fair to say that those pieces couldn’t have all come together without either a much bigger public investment or the Inflation Reduction Act, which ended up being that big public investment,” he said.

A vision emerges

Port Authority President and CEO Todd Hurley said his organization bought the property in 2019 from the Steamfitters Pipefitters Local 455, which maintained it as a golf course until 2017. When no private buyers expressed interest in the property, the Port Authority bought it for $10 million.

Hurley said the Port Authority saw potential for light industrial development and had the experience necessary to deal with mercury pollution from a fungicide the golf course staff sprayed to kill weeds.

“We are a land developer, a brownfield land developer, and one of our missions is to add jobs and tax base around the creation of light industrial jobs,” Hurley said.

The Port Authority worked with the city’s planning department on a master plan that included housing, and it solicited developers to build a mix of market-rate, affordable and low-income units. The housing parcels were eventually sold for $20 million to a private developer, Sherman Associates, which partnered with Habitat and JO Companies, a Black-owned affordable and multi-family housing developer.

“Early on, we identified a very high goal of (becoming) a net zero community,” Hurley said. “Everything we have been working on has been steering towards getting to net zero.”

Twin Cities Habitat President and former St. Paul mayor Chris Coleman said the project met his organization’s strategic plan, which calls for building bigger developments instead of its traditional practice of infilling smaller lots with single-family homes and duplexes. The project will be the largest the organization has ever built in the Twin Cities.

Coleman said the Heights offered an opportunity to fill a need in one of St. Paul’s most diverse and economically challenged neighborhoods and “be part of the biggest investment in the East Side in over 100 years.”

The requirement for all-electric homes merged with Habitat’s goal of constructing more efficient and sustainable homes to drive down utility costs for homeowners, he said. Habitat built solar-ready homes and sees the solar shingles on its homes in The Heights as a potential avenue to producing onsite clean energy.

Zeroing in on net zero

Mike Robertson, a Habitat program manager working on the project, said the organization worked with teams from the Minneapolis-based Center for Energy and Environment on energy modeling.

“The Heights is the first time that we’ve dived into doing an all-electric at scale,” Roberston said. “We have confidence that these houses will perform how they were modeled.”

Habitat plans to build the development to meet the Zero Energy Ready Home Program standards developed by the U.S. Department of Energy. Habitat will use Xcel Energy’s utility rebate and efficiency programs to achieve the highest efficiency and go above and beyond Habitat’s typical home standards.

The improved construction only adds a few thousand dollars to the overall costs and unlocks federal government incentives to help pay for upgrades, he said.

The nonprofit will receive free or reduced-cost products from Andersen Windows & Doors and other manufacturers. GAF Energy LLC, a solar roofing company, will donate solar shingles for over 40 homes and roofing materials. On-site solar will help bring down energy bills for homeowners, he said.

Chad Dipman, Habitat land development director, said the solar shingles should cover between half and 60% of the electricity the homes need. Habitat plans to use Xcel Energy incentive programs to help pay for additional solar shingles needed beyond those donated. 

Habitat will install electric resistance heating technology into air handlers to serve as backup heat for extremely cold days. Dipman said that the air source heat pumps will also provide air conditioning, a feature not available in most Habitat properties in Minnesota.  

Phil Anderson, new homes manager at the Center for Energy and Environment, has worked with Habitat on the project. He said the key to reducing the cost of heating and cooling electric homes is a well-insulated, tight envelope and high-performance windows. Habitat will build on its experience with constructing tight homes over the past decade, he said.

“Overall, the houses that we’ve been part of over the last almost ten years have been very tight homes,” Anderson said. “There’s just not a lot of air escaping.”

Habitat’s national office selected The Heights as this year’s Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project, named after the former president and his wife, two of Habitat’s most famous supporters. The work project begins September 29th and will receive as visitors Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, who now host the Carters’ program.

Robertson said thousands of volunteers from around the country and the world will help put up the homes. The Heights project “raises a lot of awareness for Habitat and specifically for this development and the decarbonization efforts that we’re putting into it,” he said.

The Heights’s two other housing developers continue raising capital for their projects and hope to break ground by next summer. Habitat believes the project will meet its 2030 completion deadline.

A St. Paul, Minnesota Habitat for Humanity project will offer affordable housing without fossil fuels is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

]]>
2314117
Does carbon-free mean carbon-neutral? Activists, industry fight over details in new Minnesota energy law https://energynews.us/2024/07/26/does-carbon-free-mean-carbon-neutral-activists-industry-fight-over-details-in-new-minnesota-energy-law/ Fri, 26 Jul 2024 10:03:00 +0000 https://energynews.us/?p=2313578 A photo of a waste-to-energy plant in Minneapolis with a cloudy sky in the background

When Minnesota enshrined a goal of 100% carbon free energy by 2040 into law, environmental advocates thought the definition was clear. But now some state agencies are arguing that burning trash and wood to produce energy should count.

Does carbon-free mean carbon-neutral? Activists, industry fight over details in new Minnesota energy law is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

]]>
A photo of a waste-to-energy plant in Minneapolis with a cloudy sky in the background

Environmental justice advocates are pushing back on proposals to include trash incinerators and wood biomass plants as carbon-free energy sources under a new state law that aims to make Minnesota power 100% carbon-free by 2040.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC), a governor-appointed board that regulates utility providers, is collecting input on what should count as carbon-free energy and has received comments from utility companies, the forestry industry and state agencies suggesting that greenhouse gas emitting sources like waste-to-energy incinerators and wood biomass burning plants should be included. 

For several environmental groups and lawmakers, those suggestions are alarming and go against the intent of the law. The law defines carbon-free sources as those that generate electricity “without emitting carbon dioxide,” which would include sources like wind, solar, hydroelectric and nuclear power. 

“This should be a very easy question to answer,” said Andrea Lovoll of the Minnesota Environmental Justice Table.  

Some state agencies and utility companies disagree. 

Two top Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) officials submitted a letter arguing that the PUC should allow waste-to-energy trash incinerators and wood biomass to count as carbon-free because they produce energy with waste that could create more greenhouse gas in the form of methane, a potent pollutant, if sent to a landfill. 

Assistant commissioners Frank Kohlasch and Kirk Koudelka said the PUC should take a big-picture view of overall emissions, rather than just looking at the “point of generation” to determine if an energy source is carbon-free. 

And they said the agency has flexibility within the law to determine “partial compliance with the standard for such fuels.”

That is not what DFL lawmakers had in mind when they passed the bill, a group of legislators and environmentalists said Wednesday. 

“Carbon-free means carbon-free,” said Representative Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis. 

Lawmakers expect the state government to implement laws, Hornstein said, not muddy the waters. The 100% carbon-free energy bill is a good goal, he said, but there are no guarantees the 2040 deadline will be met. He pointed out that the Legislature approved a 2014 mandate that metro counties recycle 75% of their waste by 2030, but recycling rates have stagnated and the goal looks out of reach.

“I see a parallel,” he said. 

Cecilia Calvo, director of advocacy and inclusion at Minnesota Environmental Partnership, said she is disappointed that polluting sources are being considered. It shows that passing legislation is only the first step, and that people need to follow the implementation process closely. 

“Ultimately, I think there will be industry and others that will find a way to push and protect their interests,” Calvo said. 

Controversial sources 

Trash incinerators are considered renewable energy sources in most Minnesota jurisdictions, but that has long been a contentious point with environmental justice advocates who point to the substantial pollution created by those facilities and their locations near diverse, low-income areas. Minnesota lawmakers stripped the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) in Minneapolis of its renewable energy status when they passed the 100% clean energy bill in 2023. Six of the seven incinerators in Minnesota are still considered renewable energy sources, which is a lesser standard than being “carbon-free.” 

Wood biomass, the burning of wood chips to produce electricity, has controversially been considered carbon-neutral for years. The technology is popular in the European Union, which often sources its wood from the United States and Canada. 

Minnesota Power operates a large wood biomass facility in Duluth, the Hibbard Renewable Energy Center, and submitted comments to the PUC arguing that the technology should be considered carbon-free. But that facility produces a large amount of greenhouse gas pollution, according to a 2021 study examining Minnesota Power’s operations. The study was commissioned by Fresh Energy, the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and the Sierra Club. 

A coalition of environmental groups led by rural advocacy organization CURE submitted a comment letter Friday arguing that including trash incineration and wood biomass as renewable energy sources would allow further greenhouse gas pollution near diverse and low-income areas. 

“Our pathway to carbon-free electricity should be grounded in the dual goals of achieving real emissions reductions while also assuring that already overburdened communities don’t bear undue costs,” the group wrote. 

The PUC received dozens of comments on their query and plans to hold a hearing to decide what counts as carbon-free sources in late September, but doesn’t have a set date for the hearing or a decision, according to a commission spokeswoman. 

This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit digital newsroom covering Minnesota’s immigrants and communities of color.

Does carbon-free mean carbon-neutral? Activists, industry fight over details in new Minnesota energy law is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

]]>
2313578
Software aims to help local governments standardize, streamline solar permitting  https://energynews.us/2024/07/19/software-aims-to-help-local-governments-standardize-streamline-solar-permitting/ Fri, 19 Jul 2024 10:00:00 +0000 https://energynews.us/?p=2313328

The Minnesota legislature budgeted money this year for the state energy office to develop training grants to help cities learn how to use the free software developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Software aims to help local governments standardize, streamline solar permitting  is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

]]>

The small southeastern Minnesota city of La Crescent receives just a handful of permit applications each year to install solar panels on homes.

Despite the small volume, it’s still important to city sustainability coordinator Jason Ludwigson that it’s a smooth process for homeowners and installers.

That’s why the city of 5,000 recently became one of the first in the state to start using a software program designed to streamline local solar permitting.

Solar Automated Permitting Plus, or SolarAPP+, was developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in collaboration with the solar industry, code organizations, local governments, and the building safety community. Since its release in 2018, SolarAPP+ has been used by more than 160 cities and counties to automate much of the permitting process for smaller solar installations.

In La Crescent, an application that might have taken a few days for a city employee to review can now be approved online in minutes for projects that meet criteria. That “will save (time) for both the contractor and the city,” Ludwigson said. “It makes it faster for our building and zoning department.”  

Minnesota lawmakers want to encourage more communities to join La Crescent in adopting the software. This year, the Legislature budgeted $2 million for the Commerce Department to deliver programs and training to local agencies, contractors, inspectors and others involved in solar permitting.

The state’s solar industry association supports use of the software, in part for its potential to standardize a process that can right now vary significantly from city to city. Making it easier to permit installations could save companies time, potentially lowering costs and helping to expand rooftop solar in the state, which will need many megawatts more clean energy to reach its climate goals.

Getting permits for solar projects in Minnesota can take days or weeks and cost as much as $1,000. Typically, solar installers in the state apply electronically or in person for separate building, local electrical and utility interconnection permits. After receiving approvals for all three applications — and any other that are required — they start building projects that, once completed, are reviewed onsite by building and electrical inspectors.

Installers using the software receive automated approvals if they accurately complete forms for their building and electrical permits and, if required, fire and structural permits. Any errors are flagged and sent back to the installer for corrections. The app integrates with existing permitting software programs used by government agencies, according to NREL.

California cities have been the biggest adopters so far, but the app is beginning to catch on in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. By the end of 2023, the NREL reported that the free software had been used nationally on 32,800 projects, saving 33,000 hours of permitting staff time. Installers pay a $25 administrative fee and the community’s permitting fee.

State Rep. Patty Acomb, who chairs the Climate and Energy Finance and Policy committee, said she and other lawmakers want to provide state grants so cities can learn how to use the software and eventually create a consistent permitting process across the state. “The intention is to make (permitting) easy and predictable,” she said.

Lissa Pawlisch, director of the Energy Development Section at the state Department of Commerce, said the department is developing a program to reach out to communities interested in SolarAPP+ and assist them in incorporating it into existing permitting software. She also believes the app could play a role in helping move installations through the new federally funded Solar for All program that will serve low income households. 

Great Plains Institute’s Brian Ross said that Solar for All requires a consistent approach to permitting, and that one way to achieve that is with the SolarApp+ software. The app would give a “jurisdictional consistency” to applications from low income solar customers and “to make sure there are not barriers in the way.” 

Despite its promise the app will not work in every situation. It only incorporates local versions of electrical permits and not the state permit, which many communities use. “If the local government relies on the state permitting process (for instance, Minneapolis), then I don’t think there is any advantage to using SolarAPP because the state electric permitting process is already effectively an ‘automatic issue,'” he said.

Donna Pickard of TruNorth Solar has spent decades filing solar permits with dozens of municipalities. She said installers need building, electrical and interconnection permits and approvals before projects begin, often taking over a month.

Pickard wonders if SolarAPP+ will interest Minnesota communities because many already have established permitting systems to manage solar projects. However, having dealt with many different permitting structures, Pickard said she “likes the idea of standardization because it would make things easier.”

Another challenge is that the software can’t evaluate permits for projects on flat or metal roofs in the Midwest. Jeff Cook, solar analysis subprogram manager at the NREL Strategic Energy Analysis Center in Colorado, said the software covers about 80% of eligible solar installations but the number declines in the Midwest due to “high snow load and metal roof penetration.”

Pawlisch said outreach and grants for SolarApp+ would likely start next year. The start date is also unclear for Solar for All as she continues to meet with federal and state officials to work out the details.

Software aims to help local governments standardize, streamline solar permitting  is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

]]>
2313328
Minnesota solar rebate extension gives installers longer runway to reach lower-income customers https://energynews.us/2024/07/10/minnesota-solar-rebate-extension-gives-installers-longer-runway-to-reach-lower-income-customers/ Wed, 10 Jul 2024 10:00:00 +0000 https://energynews.us/?p=2313051 Solar panels on a detached garage behind an older home in Minneapolis.

After a history of two-year renewals, state lawmakers extended funding for a rooftop solar rebate program through 2035, which industry leaders say will offer long-term financial certainty.

Minnesota solar rebate extension gives installers longer runway to reach lower-income customers is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

]]>
Solar panels on a detached garage behind an older home in Minneapolis.

The “solar-coaster” is about to get a little smoother for Minnesota solar installers.

State lawmakers this spring extended funding for a rooftop solar rebate program through 2035, bucking a trend of two-year renewals that caused uncertainty for installers every couple of years.

Solar industry leaders say the additional financial certainty will help companies invest in longer-term marketing and outreach, particularly for reaching lower-income customers.

Since 2014, Solar Rewards has helped more than 8,000 residential and small business customers pay for solar installations in Xcel Energy’s territory. The program is managed by the utility, but the legislature controls its budget, which has ranged between $5 million and $15 million annually. The money comes from yearly fees the state collects from Xcel in return for allowing it to store nuclear waste at two power plants.  

Logan O’Grady, executive director of the Minnesota Solar Energy Industries Association, said the extension represents a compromise — and a victory — after failed attempts to convince lawmakers to increase the program’s funding. Funding has rarely stayed the same two years in a row. Installers have struggled with planning because they did not know if the rebates would be renewed. 

“It creates the inability to plan for what you’ll be getting year to year,” O’Grady said. “You get through a two-year cycle, and then there might be nothing.”

Uncertainty about the rebate’s future has been challenging to communicate to customers. O’Grady said installers could not make promises in some years because they did not know if the program would continue. Now, even if funding runs out for the year, companies will be able to confidently tell customers that it will be available next year.

He said the extension also will help installers work with low- and moderate-income Solar Rewards customers. In 2023, the Legislature significantly modified Solar Rewards by allocating half the money for low-income participants while increasing subsidies for those projects.

Bobby King, Minnesota director of Solar United Neighbors, said connecting to organizations working with low-income households has taken a few years. The extension gives him the confidence to continue the work.

“You need the program to be consistent if you’re going to continue to grow a program to help folks get low-income solar,” he said. “We can be confident about bringing more resources to staff a (low-income) program.”

All Energy Solar CEO Michael Allen said the Solar Rewards extension “provides you a little bit more confidence” but “still doesn’t take away the real costs of having to market and to sell, design and build projects for this market segment.” He estimated that it can cost as much as 10 times more to recruit and sell to income-qualified customers because of the relationship building, education, financing and sometimes structural issues that need to be addressed.

The Solar Rewards budget over the 10-year extension will be a bit more than half of what the program received from 2014 to 2025. He worries the subsidies will slow rooftop solar, which needs to expand to meet the state’s climate goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

Martin Morud, CEO and owner of TruNorth Solar, said he prefers stable funding that allows his business time to develop relationships with community organizations that work with income-qualified customers. He said TruNorth Solar has worked on income-qualified projects involving food shelves and transitional and low-income housing through Solar Rewards and other programs. 

Cooperative Energy Futures had begun using Solar Rewards for residential projects over the past two years after primarily building community solar projects with many low- and moderate-income subscribers.

Pouya Najmaie, its policy and regulatory director, said the nonprofit recently hired an employee to focus on income-qualified projects. The Solar Rewards extension will help the nonprofit maintain that position and potentially add another if demand grows.

The Solar Rewards bill was part of a 1,430-page omnibus bill that Gov. Tim Walz signed into law in late May. Rep. Patty Acomb, House of Representatives Climate and Energy Finance and Policy Committee Chair, said lawmakers supporting Solar Rewards worried that the program could have ended in 2025 if the Democratic-dominated Legislature changed hands.

“Fifty million dollars, or $5 million a year, is better than zero,” she said. “I think that having programs like this is a signal to the industry that there is support from the state.”

Minnesota solar rebate extension gives installers longer runway to reach lower-income customers is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

]]>
2313051
Minnesota lawmakers hope ombudsperson can help defuse solar interconnection disputes https://energynews.us/2024/07/09/minnesota-lawmakers-hope-ombudsperson-can-help-defuse-solar-interconnection-disputes/ Tue, 09 Jul 2024 10:00:00 +0000 https://energynews.us/?p=2313010 An electrical box beneath solar panels in a field in Minnesota.

Solar developers for years have raised complaints about how utilities process requests to connect to the electric grid. A new state position aims to help resolve those conflicts.

Minnesota lawmakers hope ombudsperson can help defuse solar interconnection disputes is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

]]>
An electrical box beneath solar panels in a field in Minnesota.

Minnesota solar developers frustrated with the process of connecting projects to the electric grid will soon have a new place to turn to answer questions and resolve disputes.

State lawmakers recently passed legislation calling on the state Public Utilities Commission to hire an interconnection ombudsperson to provide clean energy companies with information, guidance, and mediation on connecting projects of 10 megawatts and less to the grid.

The legislation follows years of complaints by solar companies about disputes with utilities, Xcel Energy in particular, that have contributed to years-long delays for some projects to connect.

“We hope that we can create a role dedicated to understanding the entire interconnection process and help manage those disagreements when they arise,” said Logan O’Grady, executive director of the Minnesota Solar Energy Industries Association.

The legislation says the ombudsperson will track disputes and serve as a mediator between customers and investor-owned utilities. They will be expected to review policies, convene stakeholder groups, and assess ways to reduce conflicts.

O’Grady said customers, installers, and developers could contact the ombudsperson for assistance on issues involving rooftop, commercial, or community solar projects. 

The ombudsperson would not eliminate the state’s existing dispute process for interconnection issues, which can take over a month and require mediation if unresolved issues remain.

O’Grady said he hopes having an interconnection ombudsperson will more efficiently resolve some disputes and provide a new option for developers that haven’t wanted to deal with the time and attention required to file a formal complaint.  

Solar developers’ complaints have varied, but some involve inaccurate information leading to “weeks of back and forth to get clarity on a simple misunderstanding,” O’Grady said. The hope is that an ombudsperson with experience in the industry could more efficiently answer those questions or know who to contact in utilities to provide guidance. 

State Rep. Patty Acomb, a suburban Democrat and chair of Climate and Energy Finance and Policy committee, said the ombudsperson’s work is less likely to draw skepticism because it comes from an independent source.

Solar company leaders support the new position. Bobby King, Minnesota program director for Solar United Neighbors, said the ombudsperson could “centralize” information, advocate for interconnection, create solutions to improve the process and avoid litigation. “I think it’s a positive step in the right direction,” King said.

Michael Allen, CEO of All Energy Solar, said the ombudsperson would provide “unbiased information” to the Commerce Department, the Public Utilities Commission, installers, and utilities. He also believes an ombudsperson could reduce the number of disputes that reach the Public Utilities Commission.

Marty Morud, CEO and owner of TruNorth Solar, said he’d had few issues with Xcel but sees an ombudsperson as a source for helping move utilities to respond if installer emails and phone calls go unanswered.

More than a dozen states already have positions similar to interconnection ombudspersons, including California, Massachusetts and New York. Sky Stanfield, a lawyer who works with the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, said states approach the ombudsperson differently, not all requiring them to have the technical skills Minnesota seeks.

She said that having someone see all the disputes and detect patterns could also help the Public Utilities Commission target rulemaking in problem areas. 

“I do think having a person whose job is to stay up to date on what is happening seems to me like a positive step,” Stanfield said.

To be effective, the ombudsperson must be “empowered” by the Public Utilities Commission and accepted as an objective mediator by utilities and clean energy developers, she said.    

The Legislature created an initial $150,000 budget. The ombudsperson position, which has not been posted, is expected to be filled later this year.

Minnesota lawmakers hope ombudsperson can help defuse solar interconnection disputes is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

]]>
2313010