Minnesota can economically get 70 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2050, as prices for wind, solar and battery storage continue to fall, a study has found.
The deployment of more solar and wind generation would be no more costly than new natural gas power, a cheap source of electricity, according to the study done for the state Department of Commerce. Enough solar generation could be added cost-effectively by 2030 to meet Minnesota’s ambitious solar-power goals.
“We can achieve Minnesota’s goal of 10 percent solar by 2030 with very competitive generation costs,” said Josh Quinnell, senior research engineer for the Center for Energy and Environment, one of three groups that conducted the Solar Potential Analysis Report for the commerce department. “We found that at 70 percent renewable energy we are seeing costs that are comparable with natural gas generation.”
Click here to read the article by Mike Hughlett. Click here to see the report and findings.
