Top 5 takeaways from the new 2020 Minnesota Energy Factsheet

While Minnesotans are experiencing great uncertainty and change due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are hopeful and focused on contributing to recovery efforts. As policymakers consider economic relief measures and companies look for ways to weather the storm and contribute to solutions, we’ve been working with businesses and nonprofit partners on how the state’s clean energy sector can be a critical part of that recovery.

New information being released in the 2020 Minnesota Energy Factsheet about Minnesota’s clean energy transition could help inform decision-making about the state’s economic recovery. The Factsheet was put together with our partners at the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and BloombergNEF.

The Factsheet looks back at 2019, as well as energy trends over the past decade. It also digs into how our state’s economy transitioned to clean energy and the strong economic benefits and results for customers and businesses.

Here are five highlights from the Factsheet that shine a spotlight on the incredible progress our state has made in the last decade, and can help us as we forge into the next decade.

1. RENEWABLES account for 84 PERCENT of all new electricity generation capacity added since 2010, totaling 3.4 gigawatts.
2. Emissions have fallen 37 percent since 2005 and 27 percent since 2010. From 2018 to 2019 alone, EMISSIONS FELL nearly 14 percent.
3. Nearly HALF of Minnesota’s power came from zero-carbon sources in 2019. Meanwhile, coal’s contribution slipped from 38 percent in 2018 to 32 percent in 2019.
4. Over the last decade, Minnesota has BOOSTED its energy productivity by 22 percent as power consumption is up 2 percent while state GDP is up 24 percent.
5. Excluding the production tax credit (PTC), new wind builds are cheaper than new combined-cycle natural gas plant builds on a $/MWh basis in Minnesota. With the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and Investment Tax Credit (ITC), wind and solar technologies are the CHEAPEST FORM of new electricity generation in the state.

The Factsheet is produced by BloombergNEF for the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and Clean Energy Economy MN, as a resource to policymakers, journalists, industry, and the interested public. It is a companion to the national 2020 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook.

The Factsheet is available to download for free here.