Minnesota adopts green power goal, joins 22 states
Source: Reuters
By Bernie Woodall LOS ANGELES, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Minnesota on Thursday adopted the most aggressive requirement for renewable power generation in the United States, becoming the 23rd of the 50 U.S. states to set targets for green power. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed a bill to require that 25 percent of the state's electricity come from renewable sources such as solar, wind and biomass power by 2025. The trend toward setting goals for renewable power in the United States is gaining momentum, even in the Southeast, where as yet no states have set goals, said Sue Gouchoe, policy program manager for the North Carolina Solar Center at North Carolina State University. If Congress passes a bill currently being drafted that would call for 15 percent of power to come from renewable sources by 2020, the entire country would have a standard. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Democrat from New Mexico, is drafting such a bill. In 2005, U.S. renewable power in the form of geothermal, wind, solar and biomass power accounted for about 2.3 percent of overall U.S. electricity used, with hydroelectricity accounting for another 6.5 percent, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. In Minnesota and nationally, coal-fired power plants provide about half the electricity. Coal-burning plants are the most polluting of major electricity sources. In Minnesota, about 5,000 megawatts of energy from renewable sources would be added, which is about eight times more than currently comes from renewables, Pawlenty's office said, adding that renewable energy would come from wind turbines, biomass, hydrogen and solar power. The U.S. average is that a megawatt can power about 800 homes. Most of the 23 states and the District of Columbia that have set renewable standards or nonbinding goals did so in the 1990s when many states deregulated energy markets, Gouchoe said. "Setting the standard was in part a way to ensure that the utilities were still promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency," Gouchoe said. Since that decade, the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2004 that shut much of the Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas production, and the August 2003 blackout in the eastern United States have been incentives for states to set renewable standards, Gouchoe said. All three of these events have led to higher oil and gas prices, which also have made renewable power generation more competitive with fossil-fueled power plants. Minnesota became only the fourth Midwestern state to set a renewable target, and there are no Southeast states. Gouchoe said several factors were at work in the Southeast, including cheap power prices, a relatively conservative political climate and pressure from electric utilities. But even the Southeast is cozying up to renewable targets, shown by moves in the North Carolina legislature, Gouchoe said. For a table showing the states that have set guidelines or rules on renewable standards click [nN22308765].
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