On a bright morning last November, I hopped on the Blue Line light rail in Minneapolis, transferred to the 2 bus, and headed west down Franklin Ave S to its intersection with Portland Ave S, where Will Delaney, Associate Director of Hope Community, was waiting to receive me. Continue reading »
The Minnesota Legislature convened in early January and has been busy advancing major spending and policy bills. The main work of the Minnesota legislative session in odd years is to finalize a two-year state budget. The Bioeconomy Coalition has been working to ensure that funding for the advanced biofuels, biobased chemicals, and biomass thermal energy production incentive programs are included in the two-year budget. The budget currently under debate at the legislature would cover fiscal years 2018 and 2019. Continue reading »
On April 1, 2005, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) launched a wholesale energy market and began centrally dispatching power generation throughout the central United States. One result from this market reform was the reduction of wind energy curtailments. In fact, our recent analysis indicates wind capacity factors on the MISO system increased about 5-7% after the market launch. For a large 100 MW wind plant, a 5-7% increase is equivalent to about an extra $2 million in revenue per year at typical prices. Continue reading »
Today, companies and organizations that the Great Plains Institute works with jointly released a list of carbon capture projects and CO2 pipelines in a broader national infrastructure initiative and portfolio of projects, together with extension and reform of the Section 45Q tax credit and adoption of tax-exempt private activity bonds and other financial incentives to support carbon capture deployment. Continue reading »
Over the last two years, the Great Plains Institute has gathered leaders at our annual Energy Innovation Collaboratory to think strategically about the trajectory of our common energy future and how to move forward on identified energy and climate game changers. Continue reading »
The 2017 North Dakota legislature faces a tough predicament as they work to finalize budgets and funding levels for the 2017-2019 biennium. March 2017 projections developed by the State Office of Management and Budget show projected general fund revenue shortfalls of more than $100 million. Continue reading »
It’s no lie that electric vehicles (EVs) have taken off along the east and west coasts, especially in California. However, EV adoption in other parts of the country is happening at a slower pace. This includes the Midwest, which is home to roughly one-fifth of the population of the United States. An increase in EV deployment in Midwest has the potential to significantly reduce national transportation emissions, in addition to increasing opportunities for more Midwestern consumers to realize the many benefits of driving an electric vehicle. Continue reading »
The Great Plains Institute staffs the State CO2-EOR Deployment Work Group on behalf of Wyoming Governor Matt Mead and Montana Governor Steve Bullock. Continue reading »
Over our nearly twenty year history, the Great Plains Institute has been extremely fortunate to be supported by a diverse group of philanthropic foundations—which today provide some 95% of GPI’s revenue—along with a small but growing group of committed individuals and institutions who believe in GPI’s nonpartisan, consensus-based approach to crafting effective, broadly-shared energy and climate solutions: now more urgent than ever. Continue reading »
Community solar programs are gaining increasing interest from electric utility customers across the nation. Unlike individual solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, community shared solar systems, also known as Solar Gardens, create an opportunity for multiple individuals and organizations to receive the benefit of a larger solar installation without requiring it to be located on-site. For local government entities, these benefits include supporting clean energy and its positive local economic impacts, saving on energy bills for public facilities, and hedging against the future price volatility of electricity. Continue reading »
