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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.

Did you know that by 2030, Americans are expected to have saved around $2 trillion in energy efficiency measures alone? Yes, that’s trillion – with a T. And in Minnesota – of the more than 57,000 clean energy jobs located across our state – a staggering  86 percent of those are in the energy efficiency sector. Energy efficiency is the cheapest, cleanest energy resource we have in Minnesota: it costs significantly less to save a unit of energy than to buy one.

A popular topic in the energy sector this year is storage, and the Minnesota state legislature is focused on it too. Among the topics prioritized by the Legislative Energy Commission (LEC) this fall—which have included the Conservation Improvement Program (CIP), wind siting, and biomass—energy storage was the focus of the committee’s most recent meeting on November 9.

When you’re stumbling out of bed, and groggily pouring yourself a bowl of Cheerios – we’re guessing the furthest thing from your mind is how that cereal was made – and even further from your thoughts – what happens to the wasted oat hulls after your cereal is processed?

I am Amelia Cerling Hennes and my first few weeks with CEEM have already been so exciting! I am thrilled to be joining Clean Energy Economy MN as their first Marketing and Communications Manager.

We kicked off September with an exciting announcement that Minnesota’s clean energy sector grew 5.3 percent and now totals more than 57,000 jobs. This growth was nearly four times faster than jobs in all other areas of Minnesota’s economy.

To deliver the news, Lt. Governor Tina Smith, Sen. Karin Housley (R-St. Mary’s Point), Sen. Nick Frentz (D-North Mankato), Ken Smith CEO of Ever-Green Energy, Ben Granley President of Werner Electric, and Aaron Pyfferoen, Manager of Solar Procurement for Blattner Energy joined our Executive Director Gregg Mast for an in-person press conference and media call with Greater Minnesota news outlets at the State Capitol on September 7th.

Our team at Clean Energy Economy Minnesota (CEEM) spent last Wednesday morning at Majestic Custom Electric in Ramsey with State Senator Jim Abeler (R-Anoka), and State Representative Abigail Whelan (R-Ramsey).

Majestic has over twenty years of experience in the building industry and has been working with commercial and residential properties to lower their energy costs by replacing outdated lighting systems with more efficient ones utilizing LED light bulbs that are easily retrofitted to an existing structure. Majestic can save a business up to 40% a month on their electricity bills, meaning that the investments made to update a business’s lighting infrastructure pays itself off in an average of just two years.

This week I attended the 20th Annual Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Expo in Washington, D.C. The yearly event is co-convened by the bipartisan House Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Caucus, the Senate Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Caucus, and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), and we’re grateful they host it! It’s a valuable opportunity for clean energy businesses, advocates, and agencies to network and interact with congressional staff on the hill.

I’m Lily Osborne, CEEM’s new Manager for Business Development and Programs. I am thrilled to be joining CEEM and to have the opportunity to support clean energy business development in Minnesota. In my role I will work closely with our partners in the energy efficiency and clean energy business sector, as well as serve as an advocate for smart energy policy.

The 2017 legislative session began on January 3rd and ended on May 23rd. This session marked CEEM’s first full budget session at the Capitol. We were successful in establishing a positive reputation with legislators on both sides of the aisle. Our efforts focused on educating lawmakers on business-friendly policies that support the creation and expansion of jobs and investments needed to strengthen Minnesota’s burgeoning clean energy economy.

Ten years ago Minnesotans from both sides the aisle created the Next Generation Energy Act, a nation-leading Renewable Energy Standard. It has helped to create 54,000 new jobs while keeping our air and water clean and our energy affordable. And now, it’s time to update our commitment: 50% Renewable Energy by 2030 would create thousands of new jobs and stimulate billions in investment while keeping our communities healthy and prosperous.