News

The Minnesota National Guard and Minnesota Power will join forces to build a major solar energy project at Camp Ripley, the largest military base in Minnesota.

The Minnesota National Guard and Duluth-based Minnesota Power today signed a memorandum of understanding outlining plans to build a 10-megawatt utility-scale solar energy array spanning 100 acres at Camp Ripley.

Original story by Michael Brun in the Red Wing Republican Eagle.

Goodhue County Planning Advisory Commission gave a unanimous thumbs-up last week to ordinance amendments regulating solar energy systems, which at least two companies have shown interest in building in recent months.

Minnesota’s solar power industry is in a growth spurt that’s about to accelerate. The industry, once focused largely on installing solar photovoltaic panels for homes, businesses, and government, now is seeing a surge in investment by electric utilities. Sparking the surge is a 2013 state law requiring investor-owned utilities to get 1.5 percent of their electricity from solar by 2020.

October 4th, 2014 from 10am-4pm the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society will be hosting the Minnesota Renewable Energy Tour, which features 50+ exemplary homes, businesses, and institutions that have incorporated renewable energy systems into the design and operation of their buildings.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce announced on August 12, 2014, the incentive amounts for the second year (2015) of its 10-year, $15-million-a-year Made in Minnesota Solar Incentive Program.

Solar is becoming more and more popular among families and businesses interested in installing renewable energy projects in Minnesota, especially as new opportunities to participate are developed.

More and more electric vehicles (EVs) are entering the national marketplace and hitting Minnesota roads. CERTs is doing a series of interviews with EV drivers to learn about their experiences.

Meet Brad: Brad Benn of Edina makes a lot of Metro area trips and always thought it would be a good idea to drive electric.

More and more electric vehicles (EVs) are entering the national marketplace and hitting Minnesota roads. CERTs is doing a series of interviews with EV drivers to learn about their experiences.

Meet Sam & Fam: Blaine, MN residents Sam Villella and his wife both drive EVs because of their vehicle performance, the economy, and for fuel independence (and their daughters love them, too).

More and more electric vehicles (EVs) are entering the national marketplace and hitting Minnesota roads. CERTs is doing a series of interviews with EV drivers to learn about their experiences.

Meet Susie & Fam: Susie Kukkonen of Saint Paul drives an EV (Nissan Leaf 2012) because her husband works as an EV consultant and advocate—and because she loves it.

More and more electric vehicles (EVs) are entering the national marketplace and hitting Minnesota roads. CERTs is doing a series of interviews with EV drivers to learn about their experiences.

Meet Paul: Paul Wicklund of Brooklyn Park drives an EV (Nissan Leaf SV 2013) because he commutes Monday through Friday from Brooklyn Park to Chaska. He reports that his fuel costs are only $60.

The Minneapolis Solar Suitability map is a red, orange, yellow, and grey patchwork of the city’s rooftops. Click on a colored building, and a text box appears, stating “This building has good solar potential!” and an estimate of the total kilowatt-hours of solar energy that the surface could generate each year.

Xcel Energy’s Solar*Rewards program opened to new applications on August 4. The five-year, $5-million-a-year program will provide Xcel customers who install solar photovoltaic systems up to 20 kW with performance-based incentives paid annually for 10 years, with the incentive for 2014 set at 8 cents per kWh.

A 2010 CARD Energy Conservation Market Analysis report authored by Minnesota Technical Assistance Program identified potential gas and electric savings of about 2,509,532 MCF (8%) and 271,488,000 kWh (7%) respectively in Minnesota’s industrial sector.

Applications are now being accepted for the FY 2015 Biomass Thermal Energy Grant Round. The Request for Proposals should be used for applications to this grant program. MAC Users: Please complete the form using Adobe Reader.

Funding:
$577,500 in funding has been allocated for this round of funding.

Deadline:
The deadline for submissions is October 3, 2014 at 4:00 PM.

The Minnesota Renewable Energy Society will be launching a $4 million community solar project this fall with the assistance of a $2.6 million grant from the Renewable Development Fund. This year more than 20 renewable energy projects were funded with $42 million.

Minnesota consumers now have a new energy efficiency home improvement loan program that allows more people to access low-interest, unsecured loans and make important energy efficiency upgrades, thanks to a partnership of the Minnesota Department of Commerce and Minnesota Housing Finance Agency.

The idea of high-level sustainable living for residents of apartment buildings has been a concept in the minds of some in the Twin Cities metro area. Aeon, a non-profit organization, thought about transforming that concept into reality in their apartment housing properties.

It seems like summer has just barely started, but the Minnesota State Fair is just around the corner—August 21-Sept. 1. For the third straight year, the Minnesota Department of Commerce, Division of Energy Resources will host an “Improve Your Home” energy exhibit at the Eco Experience on the north end of the fairgrounds.

All of us, at some point in life, were stuck indoors on a beautiful day, and wished we could be outside. As kids, we’ve daydreamed about our teacher conducting class outside. As adults, we’ve joked with a co-worker about moving a desk outside on a nice afternoon, longing to escape the confines of a stuffy, drab office.

Over 30 people gathered July 16, 2014 in Royalton to tour and learn about exciting clean energy accomplishments and happenings in Royalton, Minnesota! Central Clean Energy Resource Team (Central CERT) hosted the tour in collaboration with the City of Royalton and its local Youth Energy Summit (YES!) Team.

Did you know that Minnesota has an award-winning Solar Dream Team? It’s true! CERTs is helping a talented team of GIS professionals design an online mapping application for solar energy that will serve an array of stakeholders and the energy industry through the coming boom in solar—and they just won a national award for their efforts. Keep reading to get the full story and learn more.

The Minnesota GreenStep Cities program is designed to challenge, assist, and recognize Minnesota cities that are “green stars.” Cities are challenged to work through a series of steps—and recognized for steps they’ve already taken—that increase the community’s sustainability.

Sandstrom’s food distribution warehouse in Grand Rapids has a bright future after completing a recent lighting retrofit. They’ve been enjoying both the energy and money savings that comes with implementing a lighting retrofit.

The existing conditions were outdated with high power usage, yet offering low level light output.

In August 2012, the University of Minnesota began a campus-wide lighting installation process. The LED lighting integrated with digital controls now reduces the energy consumed in stairwells by 90 percent.

Before this project, many of the stairwells were fully illuminated 24 hours per day throughout 120 buildings across campus.

Morrison County has given a green light to a plan to build a solar farm east of Little Falls. The 10-megawatt project is one of several large-scale solar farms expected to be built in Central Minnesota in the next few years.

Geronimo Energy is the company behind the Morrison County project, which will operate under the subsidiary Lindy Solar.