Minnesota Raises Bar for Renewable Energy

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2007/feb/22/022205540.html

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Minnesota is putting its faith in renewable energy and requiring utilities to generate a quarter of their power from renewable sources by 2025. Considering where the state stands now - about half the power produced there is from coal, and only 8 percent from renewable sources - the legislation being signed by the governor Thursday is the most aggressive in the country, analysts say.

The Minnesota law, which sailed through the Legislature, pushes for the use of renewable sources such as wind, water and solar energy and cleaner-burning fuels.

"Now we have to talk about how we get there," Gov. Tim Pawlenty told business leaders ahead of the signing ceremony.

Minnesota's numerical goal trails targets already in place for Maine and New York, but those states had been getting a significant amount of electricity from large-scale hydropower facilities before their standards were adopted, according to data from the Interstate Renewable Energy Council and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

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as well. From the article it sounds like there are a lot of ways for businesses to avoid the standards...is this just a "show" bill??

Most allow qualified renewable power generators to sell Renewable Energy Certificates for every MWh of electricity produced.

These can be purchased by utilities as part of their contribution to the state's RPS - they finance new renewable energy projects.

Also Xcel - the state's largest utility - was singled out to produce 30% of its juice from renewables. I suspect this was done to cut smaller less well funded utilities some slack.