Minnesota is the national leader in community solar, with 208 projects around the state, more than a third of all community solar projects in the U.S. The state’s community solar policy is the best, making it easy to develop and subscribe to solar power. Read more in the new report from Vote Solar, MnSEIA, and the Institute for Local Self Reliance.
Everyone deserves access to affordable, healthy, reliable renewable energy. Our new report shows how community solar is working for Minnesota, including:
- Customers: More than 14,000 Minnesota customers have signed up for community solar, to save money, create local economic development and jobs, and to protect the environment. That includes over 12,000 households and 2,000 business, non-profit, and public-sector customers.
- Workers: Community solar employed over 4,000 workers in Minnesota in 2018, including many family-wage construction jobs. “Solar installer” was the fastest growing job in the US last year.
- Landowners: Community solar projects currently pay about $5 million a year to landowners for leases and royalty payments. Counting all projects operating or currently under construction, about 354 landowners will receive a total of $182 million in leases and royalties over the next 25 years.
Lawmakers have an opportunity to build on the success of community solar by ensuring every Minnesotan has the opportunity to participate, including low-income families and farmers.
Download the new report to learn how community solar is key to building a brighter, clean-powered future for Minnesota.
Download the Factsheet
Download the Full Report
This article originally posted at ilsr.org. For timely updates, follow John Farrell or Marie Donahue on Twitter or get the Energy Democracy weekly update. Also check out over 70 episodes of the Local Energy Rules podcast!
