Renewing Our Power...Heartland leadership cutting carbon, growing jobs •57,000 clean energy jobs...
Transcript of Renewing Our Power...Heartland leadership cutting carbon, growing jobs •57,000 clean energy jobs...
Renewing Our
Power
J. Drake HamiltonScience Policy Director
Fresh Energy
March 17, 2018
Who is Fresh Energy?
• Independent
• Minnesota nonprofit
• Climate and energy policy experts
• 25 years of successes
How Fresh Energy approaches our work
• Science-based, data-driven
• Affordable, reliable energy
• Clean water and clean air, cutting carbon
• Growing markets in efficiency, wind and solar energy
Minnesota Policy Leadership
▪ Nation-leading growth in renewable energy
▪ Corporate policy
▪ Nation-leading decarbonization
Bipartisan Next Generation Energy Act of 2007
• Renewable Energy Standard (RES) 25% renewable energy by 2025
• Statewide goal to cut greenhouse gases by at least:30% below 2005 levels by 2025 80% below 2005 levels by 2050
across the economy
• 1.5% energy savings standard for electric utilities
2007 Bipartisan
Next Generation Energy Act
Trends in MN Economic Growth, Electricity Use, and Emissions
Average Monthly Residential Electric Bill, 2016
Heartland leadershipcutting carbon, growing jobs
• 57,000 clean energy jobs that exceed state average wage by 42%
• 30% of these in
Greater Minnesota
• Cutting carbon via smart, bipartisan policies and business leadership
Clean energy:Growing the Minnesota economy
• 2,800 jobs
• Family-owned,
110-year-old company
• 34% of revenues from renewable energy projects
• 1,600 permanent union jobs
Minnesota construction companies dominate North American clean energy developments
Construction Forecasting Engineering Design Operations Finance Accounting Manufacturing Sales Transportation Legal Marketing
Some clean energy job categories
Minnesota Electricity in TransitionCurrent Plans: 2016 - 2030
2016
* Based on MN IOU IRPs & announcements
2030*
Nuclear 23%
Coal 45%
Natural Gas 9%
Renewables 23%
Nuclear 21%
Coal 22%
Natural Gas 12%
Renewables 45%
13
Solar Energy Jobs Act of 2013
Standard: 1.5% of public utilities’ electricity from solar by 2020
•Goal: 10% of the entire state’s electricity from solar by 2030
• Community Solar Gardens
Solar Energy Jobs Act of 2013
SolarSolar Capacityas of October 2017
15
Solar Energy Jobs Act of 2013
Solar costs dropped 30 percent in one year
Minnesota added enough solar to power 53,000 homes
Just in 2017…
• Located near North Branch in Chisago County
• 100 MW (enough to power 20,000 homes)
• 440,000 solar panels covering 1,000 acres
• Largest solar farm in the Midwest
North Star Solar Project
• Powers 1,000 homes
• 15,000 solar panels over 35 acres
• Pollinator-friendly plantings between the rows of panels
Farmington Community Solar Garden
Minnesota Policy Leadership
▪ Nation-leading growth in renewable energy
▪ Corporate policy
▪ Nation-leading decarbonization of electricity
“We think that human-caused greenhouse gas causes climate change…and that it’s going to stress the agricultural supply chain.
Obviously we depend on that for our business, and we all depend on that for the food we eat.”
General MillsAugust 31, 2015
“General Mills is committed to doing our part to tackle climate change”
Required every supplier to achieve 27% carbon reductions by 2025
Committed $100 million investment in
efficiency and renewables
General Mills
‘Opportunity to turn the billions of dollars in existing low-carbon investments into the trillions of dollars the world needs to bring clean energy prosperity to all.’
RE100:The World’s Most Influential Companies
Committed to 100% Renewable Power
Apple Bank of America
BMW Coca Cola
Facebook GM
GoldmanSachs Google
Ikea Hewlett Packard
Johnson & Johnson Microsoft
Nestle Nike
Procter & Gamble Unilever
Walmart Wells Fargo
Stephanie Zawistowski| Senior Policy AdvisorOffice of Governor Mark Dayton and Lt. Governor Tina Smith
Melissa Hortman| Minority LeaderMinnesota House of Representatives
Greg Downing| Sustainability ManagerTarget
Patrick Hamilton| Director of Global Change Initiatives Science Museum of Minnesota
J. Drake Hamilton Science Policy DirectorFresh Energy
U.S. Heartland Climate Action
Problem Solved?
SUNK COST
Minnesota’s Remaining
Coal-Fired Power Plants
Taconite Harbor Energy CenterMinnesota Power, SchroederAnnual carbon emissions: 1,300,000 tons
Boswell Energy CenterMinnesota Power, CohassetAnnual carbon emissions: 8,500,000 tons
Hoot LakeOtter Tail Power, Fergus FallsAnnual carbon emissions: 1,000,000 tons
Sherburne County (Sherco)Xcel Energy, BeckerAnnual carbon emissions: 14,800,000 tons
Allen S. KingXcel Energy, Oak Park HeightsAnnual carbon emissions: 3,300,000 tons
Ben FowkeCEO, Xcel EnergyJanuary 2014
“Coal is going away… it’s just
a matter of time”
Xcel Energy Shareholder’s Meeting
April 2016
“We’re going to be able to retire coal plants earlier than we expected…coal is going away; it's just a matter of time.”
-Ben Fowke, CEO of Xcel Energy
Minnesota’s largest greenhouse gas emitter
Ben FowkeCEO, Xcel Energy
“Xcel has brought wind online
with prices better than
natural gas… wind has been
pragmatic, cost-effective”
Christopher ClarkPresident, Xcel Energy
‘The wind Xcel Energy is
bringing online is lower in
cost than our lowest cost
coal plant.’
Equivalent to
taking
2.4 Million cars
& their pollution
off Minnesota’s
roads
12 Coal Plant Retirements Secured
Xcel’s Business Decision:
60% CO2 reduction by 2030
Xcel’s Business Decision:
60% CO2 reduction by 2030
Will be achieved 8 years early!
Xcel’s Business Decision:
60% CO2 reduction by 2030
Will be achieved 8 years early!
By 2030, 60% renewables
By 2030, 85% carbon-free
Farther, Faster Together
Double our Renewable Energy Standard
Code Blue for Patient Earth: Responding to the urgent threat of climate change to One Health
Friday, April 20, 2018Science Museum of Minnesota
Sponsored by
Abbott Northwestern Hospital Foundation
Register at: www.fresh-energy.org/codeblue
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
‘Nobody on this planet is going to be
untouched by the impacts of climate change.’
Thank you!
www.fresh-energy.org