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Alternative Power Sources in Minnesota

Count Minnesota among the growing numbers of states with laws requiring electric utilities to obtain some of their power from renewable resources. The state requires its major utility, Xcel Energy, to get 30 percent of its juice from green sources such as solar power and wind energy by 2020. Other utilities have until 2025 to ramp up renewables to 25 percent of their portfolio.

  1. Wind

    • Wind turbines generate a significant share of Minnesota's alternative energy. The state ranks fourth in the nation for wind power output, behind Texas, California and Iowa. Energy developers built more than 60 wind farms in Minnesota since 1989. The state's total installed wind-power capacity as of Jan. 1, 2011, was nearly 2,200 megawatts, but its prospects are far greater: Wind farm developer National Wind said Minnesota has enough of the resource to generate 75,000 megawatts of wind power a year.

    Biomass

    • This alternative power source uses renewable energy sources including wood and grass as fuel to create steam for power plants. A 2005 study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found biomass could eventually replace 2 percent of Minnesota's traditional power generation. The state has abundant sources of biomass, including forest residue, wood mill residue, agricultural residue, energy crops and urban wood waste. Making biomass a more widespread energy source in Minnesota will require more economically viable collection, transportation and energy conversion systems.

    Garbage

    • As of 2011, Minnesota housed nine facilities designed to convert urban garbage waste into electricity. The centers combined to generate more than 100 megawatts of power, or enough energy to serve more than 75,000 homes. After waste management companies pick up trash, it's taken to a waste-to-energy center, where it's sorted and fed into a combustor to create steam for power. In addition to generating alternative power, Minnesota's waste-to-energy centers have direct annual payrolls of more than $20 million a year, and create other jobs in engineering, transportation and maintenance. Biomass sources, including landfill methane gas, will increase from 3.2 percent of the state's share of power production in 2003 to 5.5 percent in 2015, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

    Solar

    • Minnesota doesn't have enough sunlight to attract large-scale or utility-sized solar-power plants. But the state does have an aggressive incentives plan for individuals who want to mount solar panels on their homes or businesses. Minnesotans have embraced the programs; a record number of them installed solar arrays in 2010, according to the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society. Solar incentives offered by the state and its utilities include rebates of up to $20,000 per system and exemptions from state sales taxes on the purchase of a solar array.

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