A proposal was introduced in the Minnesota Legislature this week that would require at least 20% of the state’s electricity to be generated with renewable resources by 2020, up from between 2-5% today. Analysts estimate that 2,000 new utility-scale wind turbines would have to be installed to meet a 20% requirement.
Minnesota State Senator Ellen Anderson (DFL-St. Paul) and Representative Aaron Peterson (DFL-Madison) introduced companion bills that would convert the existing renewable energy "objective," which utililities must make a "good-faith" effort to meet, into a statewide "standard" of 5% renewable energy supply in 2010. The standard would then gradually increase to 20% in 2020.
Anderson is chairwoman of the Senate Jobs, Energy, and Community Development Committee. She said a subcommittee would start hearings on the bill March 21.
"A renewable energy standard will bring tremendous investment to rural Minnesota," Rep. Aaron Peterson of Madison said. "It will also benefit the whole state by decreasing pollution and creating renewable energy jobs."
"This bill will help create a regional market in and around Minnesota for up to $10 billion in new wind power installations over the next fifteen years.
A competitive, steadily expanding market will enable suppliers to provide wind power even more cost-competitively," said John Dunlop, AWEA’s Great Plains representative.
Anderson has introduced another bill to promote "community wind" projects that include local investors.. The bill would direct the Public Utilities Commission to set a front-loaded power purchase rate to directly facilitate the development of community-based wind projects. The rate would be higher for the first ten years of the project’s operation, then be reduced for the next 10 years. The bill is being referred to as "Community-Based Energy Development," or C-BED. A companion bill has been introduced in the House as well.
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