Guest view: Carbon-free bill needs some work

Jenny Glumack, manager of legislative affairs for the Minnesota Rural Electric Association, wrote this piece on behalf of its member cooperatives.

On Jan. 5, the Minnesota Legislature proposed a bill to transition all electricity sold in the state to be carbon-free by 2040. The bill must consider potential impacts to the reliability and affordability of the essential electric service provided by Minnesota cooperative utilities to their 1.7 million members.

As new energy generation and transmission facilities are built to meet clean energy requirements, existing generation facilities are being retired early and are being replaced with renewable resources, such as wind and solar. This significantly impacts reliability as variable resources (i.e., wind and solar) cannot be counted on to always be available when needed. This bill would accelerate this troubling trend.

It is currently not possible to expect the electric system to function in Minnesota without significant gas, coal and/or nuclear generation. Technology to fully transition these generation fuels to renewable resources is not developed yet, much less deployed.

Both the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and North American Electric Reliability Corporation recently issued warnings about potential energy shortfalls during extreme weather in the Midwest. These warnings extend year-round for the next several years. Just this past Dec. 23, MISO declared a maximum generation emergency event to maintain the reliability of the electric system. These maximum generation events are warnings that the system is nearing a point when rotating power outages may be required, and they are predicted to happen more often in the coming years.

Minnesotans are already experiencing rising costs of goods and services throughout the economy. Developing new renewable generation facilities, equipment, and infrastructure to support carbon-free energy will take significant time and money. Forcing premature energy resource decisions through mandates, as is the case in the proposed legislation, will only drive up costs.

These new mandates are not needed to transition to a cleaner electricity system. Minnesota’s clean energy transition in the electric utility sector is already well underway. In 2005, 65 percent of the state’s electricity was generated by coal. Today, that number has dropped to 26 percent and is projected to be no more than 5 percent by 2035.

Additionally, 30 percent of our energy generation comes from renewable sources, up from just 5 percent in 2005. By 2035, renewable energy generation in Minnesota is projected to be at 50 percent.

No other state in the country has reduced electric-sector carbon-dioxide emissions more successfully than Minnesota.

Mark Bakk, general manager of Lake Country Power (with members in Carlton County) said of special concern for his cooperative are the hefty investments made over the years to meet emissions reductions mandates for carbon dioxide emitted from existing fossil fuel power plants like coal and natural gas. Consumers are still paying for these investments through their electric bills, Bakk said. Meanwhile policymakers favor shutting down these clean, efficient baseload power plants in the interest of intermittent energy produced by renewable technologies.

Help keep energy reliable and affordable to all Minnesotans, especially rural electric cooperatives. Make your voice heard on these issues by reaching out to your local legislators.

Here is some of what we are asking of our state legislators:

• Eliminate the separate renewable energy mandate in the proposed carbon-free legislation, which complicates the overall goal of reducing carbon emissions.

• Eliminate the 2030 and 2035 compliance milestones. These milestones are unnecessary and will force premature and costly resource decisions before more effective and economical technologies are available.

• Put cooperative boards in the role of balancing reliability and affordability in the event that meeting deadlines would put them at risk.

• Include all carbon-reduction resources and technology in the mandate. This includes lifting the nuclear moratorium to allow small modular nuclear generation as a possible energy resource.

The Minnesota Rural Electric Association represents 50 not-for-profit, member-owned rural electric cooperatives, including Lake Country Power in northeastern Minnesota, serving more than 43,000 members.