In
2012 the early thought leaders behind Minneapolis Energy Options were busy
building a loose coalition with pre-existing grassroots organizations who
shared a vision of more localized renewable energy and democratic control over
our energy system. These coalition partners include Environment Minnesota,
Environmental Justice Advocates of Minnesota, the Sierra Club North Star
Chapter, the Institute for Local Self Reliance, Grand Aspirations, Minnesota
Public Interest Research Group, Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, Minnesota
Youth Environmental Network, Mn350, ICP Green, Minnesota Renewable Energy
Society, the North American Water Office and the Will Steger Foundation.
These
are mainly environmental sustainability organizations that also incorporate
aspects of labor, economic justice and neighborhood community building. Active
participants and workers for these organizations looked toward Minneapolis Energy Options with excitement because the
emerging group laid out a strategic opportunity to spark a long-overdue public
conversations about energy among both Minneapolis residents and city officials.
A
primary motivation for the active campaigners in Minneapolis Energy Options was
a desire to see a conversation about a clean, affordable, reliable and
localized energy future to go on loud and clear with the City officials. On the
strength of this appeal and with the help of MPIRG, Minneapolis Energy Options
was able to send thousands of Minneapolis Energy Options postcards signed by
Minneapolis residents and sent to their respective City Council members.
A
VISION OF USING OUR ENERGY DOLLARS TO BUILD LOCAL RENEWABLE CAPACITY LAID THE
GROUNDWORK FOR MINNEAPOLIS ENERGY OPTIONS TO FORM
Both
Our Power and the Minneapolis Energy Options began with a $450,000,000 dollar
question about the economic justice impacts of energy
consumption and the great economic opportunities in addressing the issue.
The $450 million per year (and rising) we as
the residents and businesses of Minneapolis spend to pay for energy are
precious. It is only fair that we as the city have the option to invest our
energy dollars into cleaner, renewable and locally-controlled options rather
than send such a large proportion of our hard-earned dollars toward the coffers
of distant out-of-state shareholders.
However
almost none of these $450 million in annual energy dollars are spent on locally
generated renewable energy despite the potential for doing so.
As
it turns out, Minneapolis residents and businesses have not had consumer choice
over where our electricity and gas is sourced from. Everyone has to buy from electricity
from Xcel Energy and natural gas from Centerpoint Energy. Utilities are
typically monopolies within their service territories.
Our
energy dollars with Xcel were going toward an energy system that was 35% coal,
29% nuclear, and 14% natural gas. These three industries create far fewer jobs
per dollar invested than energy efficiency and clean energy, which has turned
job creation into a rallying point.
Finding
a systemic way to expedite more economic development for local renewable energy
was one of the prime issues that motivated the organizers who started Minneapolis
Energy Options.
Because
of the monopoly ownership structure of Xcel and Centerpoint, Minneapolis
residents and businesses are not given much room to initiate localized
renewable energy generation. Yes at the time, there were a handful of often
well-to-do individuals who owned their own individual solar arrays. But the
utility powers that be were not trying to make the go solar option easier or more
cost- effective for a greater number of people to take.
In one instance, Xcel revolted when the City of Minneapolis got Federal
Stimulus funds for energy and chose to invest the money into putting 40
kilowatts of solar panels on the Haaf Parking Ramp in downtown Minneapolis.
According to city Council
Member Cam Gordon, “Xcel required the City to spend thousands of additional
dollars to prevent these
solar panels from putting renewable electricity onto the downtown grid.
Xcel argued that allowing this clean, renewable power to get onto the grid
would put the grid at risk, which indicates that the grid is too fragile to
accommodate local renewable energy generation.”
NOTE 1
For
another example, Xcel proposed eliminating the
popular Solar Rewards Program- a rebate program for rooftop solar arrays that
is credited with helping 560 Minnesota homes and businesses install solar
arrays between 2010 and mid-2012. NOTE 2
In June of
2012, Xcel proposed scaling back their Solar Rewards program for 2013 and eliminating
it altogether after the end of 2013. They were opting to spend the $5 million
in annual subsidies they received for it on energy conservation efforts
instead.
The PUC eventually
ruled in favor of maintaining the Solar Rewards Program upon the public
commentary being overwhelmingly in favor of keeping it.
On July 20th
2012, Lee Gabler, Xcel's director of demand side management and renewable
operations, wrote an email response to widespread criticism of Xcel’s anti-Solar
Rewards decision "In an economy where our customers' demand for energy is
not growing, we feel it is not appropriate to add more of this expensive energy
resource. Increased costs, including new infrastructure, are placing upward
pressure on our customers' bills, so it's appropriate to control customer costs
by ending a program that doesn't provide sufficient value." NOTE
3
Many of the statements and perspectives of the individuals with
Xcel have changed since the time Minneapolis Energy Options began. But the above
statement from 2012 provides a key example of what disturbed and irritated the
early thought leaders behind Minneapolis Energy Options.
It is not only built upon the assumption that
solar power will be a more expensive resource despite the cost of it dropping
significantly. It revealed a refusal to recognize the benefits that distributed
solar generation brings to the grid and how it can help Xcel customers avoid
the costs of paying for expensive new transmission lines.
New
strategies to make energy efficiency upgrades more cost effective and
accessible for a greater number of people presents another way how we will
lessen dependency on companies who are importing polluting energy from outside
of the state.
Overall,
it is only fair that we as communities have accessible opportunities to enhance
local economic development while reducing overall energy use at the same time.
Our
energy money is being funneled to shareholders of corporate monopoly utilities
that have a government guaranteed profit margin above 10%. Think of electrical
power as the metaphorical water that flows into the bucket of the local
economy. But the system of distant ownership/ control also pokes holes in the
bucket which steadily drains dollars out of our local economy bucket at the
same time it is being continually refilled.
What
would plugging the holes in this metaphorical steady leak look like? It means
we will keep our energy dollars home to revitalize the local economy and create
local jobs which will strengthen our grid to prevent power outages, and lead
the region in a transition to a clean and efficient energy future.
This
was the early vision and social idealism that inspired the organizers behind
Minneapolis Energy Options even before the campaign was formed. However what
was the moment that actually lit the spark for Minneapolis Energy Options?
NOTE 1 COMMUNITY
VOICES | Minneapolis' energy future: What will our options be? By Cam Gordon, Community Voices
July 26, 2013 http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2013/07/26/community-voices-minneapolis-energy-future-what-will-our-options-be
NOTE 2 http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_20761224/xcel-energy-phase-out-solar-rewards-program-minnesota Xcel Energy plans to phase out solar rebate in
Minnesota
POSTED:
06/01/2012
NOTE 3 Xcel's plan to drop Solar Rewards draws heat
·
Updated: July 20, 2012 - 9:05 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment