Energy Policy in Minnesota: The High Cost of Failure

Preview:

Minnesota has established aggressive energy policy goals, the primary goal being to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2015, 30 percent by 2025, and 80 percent by 2050. Data on Minnesota CO2 emissions, however, reveals the state is not even close to meeting these goals.

Minnesota’s strategy for meeting these goals largely relies on lowering CO2 emissions by shifting electricity generation from fossil fuels to wind power. Over the years an estimated $10.6 billion has been spent on building wind farms to meet Minnesota’s state mandated renewable energy requirement.

Despite this massive investment, the federal government reports that reductions in Minnesota greenhouse gas emissions—just 6.6 percent between 2005 and 2014—failed to keep pace with overall U.S. reductions. At the same time, Minnesota completely lost its long-held advantage on electricity prices. Energy Policy in Minnesota: The High Cost of Failure shows that as electricity prices continue to rise faster than the U.S. average and emissions reductions fall short, Minnesota appears poised to push forward with the same failed policies.

A full copy of the report can be viewed here.