As drilling and process oil gets dirtier and dirtier, our electric grid only continues to get cleaner. That, combined with much lower fuel and maintenance costs compared to gas vehicles, make electric cars and buses a tremendous opportunity for clean energy progress.
Programs
Buildings of the future and a more electric economy
In order to dramatically reduce our buildings’ energy footprints, we need to make them so super-efficient that they can run on small amounts of clean electricity.
Modernizing the grid for an electric economy
As Minnesota moves from centralized coal plants to cleaner distributed energy resources like wind and solar, the flow of electricity on the grid is no longer going in just one direction. We need to modernize the rules that govern our electric system to ensure new clean energy can come online.
Into the weeds on rural wind, solar fees
For several years, rural Minnesota families and businesses have been dealing with uncertainty surrounding their solar and wind investments. Now, after years of discussion, the Public Utilities Commission is set to make a decision on fees charged by electric cooperatives by the end of 2017.
Hosting capacity: how a more transparent grid can clean things up
Fresh Energy is working to simplify the way small systems connect to the grid by first making the whole process a lot more transparent.
Solar sites serve up the Tesla of honey
Solar is blooming in Minnesota—and as ground-mounted solar sites spring up around the state, most include an important feature: pollinator habitat. Beekeepers are jumping on the opportunity.