Nation’s strictest clean energy bill gains steam (MN RPS, 25% by 2020)

[jpak]

http://www.timberjay.com/current.php?article=3029

A bill that would require Minnesota utilities to produce 25 percent of their electricity from clean, renewable sources by 2020 could be state law within a matter of weeks. The measure, known as the renewable energy standard, passed 61-4 on the floor of the Minnesota Senate on Wednesday.

The bipartisan bill, with compromise language hammered out by Sen. Yvonne Prettner-Solon last week, has the backing of the state’s largest utilities and the state Chamber of Commerce, as well as environmental groups that have fought for the standard for the past several years. Gov. Tim Pawlenty has indicated he’ll sign the measure when it reaches his desk.

The measure is an even stricter one than supporters of the renewable energy standard had sought last year. That measure would have required utilities to produce 25 percent of their power from clean alternatives, like wind, solar or biomass, by 2025. The latest language would accelerate that timetable to 2020, and the state’s largest utility, Xcel Energy, would commit to 30 percent of its power from renewables by that date. Other utilities must produce 20 percent of their power from alternative sources, which will achieve the 25 percent overall average.

Clean energy advocates were elated with the Senate’s action and they are awaiting similar movement on a companion bill in the House. Ken Bradley, a lobbyist for Fresh Energy, said the bill would put Minnesota at the forefront of the transition to a new energy economy. “If that’s the bill the governor signs, it would be the strongest bill in the country,” Bradley said.

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edit: Maine's RPS is actually the "strictest" at 30% and has already surpassed this mark...

[fed-up]

1. kick rec n/t