About 70 percent of Minnesota’s power grid is due for replacement over the next 20 years and over that time, there’s a growing effort in the state to replace much of that with renewable energy.
It’s called the Clean Energy First plan, and under its guidelines, state utility regulators would be limited in how they can approve new fossil fuel plants, giving clear preference to renewable energy projects.
Rochester Republican Sen. David Senjem sponsored a version of Clean Energy First. He told the Associated Press that Minnesota would become a national leader in clean energy production and innovation.
“We know it’s literally the cheapest option and we know politically and attitudinally, people prefer clean energy over dirty energy,” Senjem told the news agency.
Isaac Orr, policy fellow with the Center of the American Experiment, said the policy could be a bad choice for the state.
“Despite constant claims that renewable energy is the lowest cost source of electricity in Minnesota, the facts show this claim simply isn't true,” Orr said.
He said comparing reliable coal-fired plants to wind production isn’t a true comparison.
“When it is not windy, the turbines generate no electricity and there is no easy or affordable way to store this electricity for later. In fact, just 24 hours of battery storage would cost $133 billion based on the battery installed by Tesla in South Australia,” he said.
He pointed out that even with renewable energy generation, the state will still need to rely on fossil fuel plants for stability.
“The wind only produces power about 35 percent of the time in Minnesota, meaning we will still rely heavily on natural gas for decades to come,” Orr said. “Instead of paying once for electricity from Sherco, Minnesotans will pay twice, once for wind, and once for natural gas.”
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