Blog

I am Mikaela Isaacson, and I am ecstatic to be Clean Energy Economy MN’s (CEEM) first Communications and Policy Intern. This position is at the intersection of my shared passions for communication and sustainability, making it a perfect fit for me!

Between now and June 11, the Minnesota Public Utility Commission is accepting public comments regarding the Freeborn Wind Farm’s Transmission Line Route Permit.

After a contentious three month legislative session, with long hours logged by those working in and for clean energy, the end of session came with a large question mark hanging over the work.

Here's a look at all of the legislation CEEM worked on this session. 

This week, the Minnesota House and Senate created a conference committee to work out the differences between the two versions of this year's omnibus supplemental budget bill. Just one week remains of this year's legislative session. 

This week, the Minnesota House and Senate moved this year’s major spending and policy bills forward, with the Senate taking up their version of the omnibus finance bill on the Senate floor on Thursday where it passed along party lines 34-31.

This week, the Minnesota House and Senate released their major funding and policy bills. These large bills, called “omnibus” bills, merge a number of smaller bills into one. 

With such large proposals, it’s often a balancing act between the good and the not so good provisions.

Last week, the legislature came back from a week-long spring recess. Upon returning to the Capitol lawmakers have just six weeks to finish all major bills before they are constitutionally mandated to adjourn in May.

CEEM outlines the top three most important things we're working on at the legilsature this week. 

 

Minnesota’s workforce shortage is a frequent topic of discussion. It’s a troubling issue that has the potential to squeeze quickly growing industries like clean energy.

The legislature is on recess this week for their annual Easter/Passover break. This spring recess gives legislators the chance to head back to their districts to catch up with constituents before returning to the Capitol for the final few weeks of session which is constitutionally mandated to adjourn sine die by May 21.

Clean Energy Economy Minnesota has successfully wrapped up our second annual Clean Energy Business Day at the Capitol. This year we partnered with Wind on the Wires (WoW), Minnesota Solar Energy Industries Association (MnSEIA) and U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

The 2018 Minnesota Legislative Session is in full swing at the Capitol. Two weeks into a short, 10-week session and the priority issue areas are starting to take shape.

Both the House and Senate energy committees have started meeting regularly, holding hearings on some of this year’s top issue areas. The first deadline we are focused on is March 22, in which bills introduced in either the House or Senate must receive a hearing in their house of origin in order to continue through the legislative process.

March began with some exciting energy news for Minnesota. Among the headlines: renewables are now Minnesota's second largest source of electricity. And, according to data just released from the Department of Energy, a full 25 percent of Minnesota’s energy generation comes from renewable sources.

Amid a backdrop of simultaneously good and bad news for the clean energy industry in Minnesota (48 percent job growth in the state’s solar industry and 72 percent federal budget cut proposed for the Department of Energy) Clean Energy Economy MN (CEEM) took the opportunity to meet with congressional offices in Washington D.C. in February to discuss the state’s explosive growth in clean energy jobs and innovation.

Lily Osborne shares her experiences at the 2018 Midwest Energy Solutions Conference. It is an exciting time witnessing the transformation of our energy sector, and this year’s Midwest Energy Solutions Conference affirmed to me that the talented people and companies working in this industry will continue to advance compelling and cost-saving changes.

The looming November election sets the backdrop for the 2018 legislative session which begins on February 20 in Saint Paul. In Minnesota, our government operates on a two-year cycle, or a “biennium.” As the second year in the biennium, unlike the first year, the legislature is not required to pass a new, full budget. Traditionally, the second year in a biennium is reserved for just one major policy initiative: capital investment.

Clean Energy Economy MN recently teamed up with OATI, as well as The Energy Transition Lab (ETL), and Minnesota Conservative Energy Forum (MnCEF) to provide a learning opportunity for Minnesota legislators to tour OATI’s microgrid facilities. The event also convened leaders to talk about the critical and real efforts to modernize the grid in Minnesota. Grid modernization is a broad umbrella term that can encompass a range of advanced technologies and infrastructure developments.

That cold Minnesota air actually set in motion the birth of the concept for 75F. When founder and CEO Deepinder Singh moved into a home; his daughter would wake up at night with her room 10 degrees cooler than the parents' room, where the thermostat was located. As a self-respecting engineer, Deepinder started a company to fix the problem. 75F Dynamic Airflow Balancing solution was the company's resulting flagship offering.

Last session, the Minnesota Legislature temporarily discontinued Minnesota’s Residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (R-PACE) program in order to proactively address consumer protection concerns that arose out of incidents that happened in other states, including predatory lending practices that led to foreclosures on vulnerable homeowners.

As part of this legislative solution, policymakers established the R-PACE Consumer Protection Task Force which is charged with developing legislative recommendations to address consumer protection problems and reinstate the R-PACE program in Minnesota.

2017 was a big year in Minnesota's energy tranisition - read all about the top 10 gains.

This fall, pretty much everybody had an opinion about the federal tax bill getting put together in Washington D.C. Whether you hated it, loved it -- or fell somewhere in between, the first major tax overhaul bill in years drew plenty of attention during the closing months of 2017.

As a conduit between clean energy businesses in Minnesota and both the state and federal government, Clean Energy Economy MN was watching the construction of the Federal Tax Bill closely. Here is what caught our attention in the first round of bills passed by the House and Senate.