A live look at the Solar on Schools program in Minnesota as the State Senate debates the Blackout Bill

The Minnesota Senate will vote on the Blackout Bill today, potentially sending the 100 percent carbon-free electricity mandate by 2040 to the desk of Governor Walz.

So far, 10,178 people have signed our petition (see below) telling their elected officials to vote NO! on this legislation because it will increase electricity prices and cause rolling blackouts.

As the Senate moves to potentially force our state to obtain 80 percent of its electricity from wind turbines, solar panels, and battery storage facilities, it helps to show our readers how these assets perform in the real world.

A reader recently sent in a photo with a live look at a solar system on the roof of a Minnesota school. Can you spot the solar panels?

The fact of the matter is solar panels don’t produce very much electricity in the winter time, which is due to shorter days in the winter, and sometimes the panels are covered in snow. This is why it isn’t uncommon for solar panels in Minnesota to produce less than 10 percent of their potential output in December and January.

Mandating that 100 percent of our electricity come from carbon-free resources while also refusing to lift our state’s unscientific ban on building new nuclear power plants is sentencing Minnesota citizens to energy poverty and rolling blackouts due to an overreliance on unreliable wind and solar power.

You can watch the floor debate at the link below.