Minnesota utility’s plan for getting off gas isn’t enough, critics say
This story was first published by Energy News Network. Climate and clean-energy advocates weighing in on CenterPoint Energy’s ideas to decarbonize its natural-gas business in Minnesota applaud the effort but say it falls short of what’s needed to meet the moment. The state’s largest gas utility submitted an “innovation plan” last summer to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, which is taking public comments on the plan through March 15. Over the course of hundreds of pages, the utility proposes 18 pilot projects — from tree-planting and geothermal to carbon capture and hydrogen-blending. Altogether, the utility is asking to spend more than $105 million on 18 pilot projects that it estimates will reduce the equivalent of around 330,000 metric tons of carbon emissions over the five-year plan. According to calculations by clean energy organizations, this would represent about a 4% reduction. The plan “is going to move us, but it’s not going to move us fast enough,” said Melissa Partin, climate policy analyst with the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, one of several groups that have submitted comments on the plan. The docket (M-23/215) stems from the Natural Gas Innovation Act, a 2021 state law that, among other things, authorizes gas utilities to collect money from ratepayers for projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Xcel Energy submitted a similar plan to state regulators late last year for its natural-gas utility. Gas utilities are expected to make up a growing share of the state’s climate pollution as the state’s electric utilities transition to 100% clean power by 2040. Two out of every three households in Minnesota heat their homes with natural gas, and many industries rely on the fuel to operate medium and heavy machinery—a potentially daunting challenge as the state seeks net-zero climate emissions by 2050. Not a “silver bullet” The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and other advocates have asked the Public Utilities Commission to supplement the pilot project spending with emissions-reduction targets for the utilities. While many of CenterPoint’s ideas look promising, and some could eventually scale up to make a bigger impact, Partin said the Natural Gas Innovation Act will not alone drive the state across the finish line for its climate goals. Other strategies will be needed, such as updating commercial and residential building codes, improving energy-efficiency standards for appliances and considering a ban on allowing any natural gas in new buildings, which, Partin said, “will be difficult in Minnesota’s current political climate.” Utilities are somewhat hamstrung by the act’s requirement that half the budget for the initial plans must go to alternative fuels, which “stacks the deck” in favor of renewable natural gas and hydrogen, Partin said. CenterPoint is already blending hydrogen into its system from a downtown Minneapolis facility, so proposing additional such projects does not seem to fit the definition of “innovation,” Partin said. Meanwhile, a recent study by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research found little to no climate benefit from blending hydrogen in existing gas-supply lines, in part because hydrogen is less energy-dense and more prone to leaking. Joe Dammel, managing director of buildings for Fresh Energy, said CenterPoint’s plan “is definitely not a silver bullet; it’s not going to get us where we need to get.” (Energy News Network is an independent journalism service of Fresh Energy.)
This story was first published by Energy News Network. Climate and clean-energy advocates weighing in on CenterPoint Energy’s ideas to decarbonize its natural-gas business in Minnesota applaud the effort but say it falls short of what’s needed to meet the moment. The state’s largest gas utility submitted an…
This story was first published by Energy News Network.
Climate and clean-energy advocates weighing in on CenterPoint Energy’s ideas to decarbonize its natural-gas business in Minnesota applaud the effort but say it falls short of what’s needed to meet the moment.
The state’s largest gas utility submitted an “innovation plan” last summer to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, which is taking public comments on the plan through March 15. Over the course of hundreds of pages, the utility proposes 18 pilot projects — from tree-planting and geothermal to carbon capture and hydrogen-blending.
Altogether, the utility is asking to spend more than $105 million on 18 pilot projects that it estimates will reduce the equivalent of around 330,000 metric tons of carbon emissions over the five-year plan. According to calculations by clean energy organizations, this would represent about a 4% reduction.
The plan “is going to move us, but it’s not going to move us fast enough,” said Melissa Partin, climate policy analyst with the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, one of several groups that have submitted comments on the plan.
The docket (M-23/215) stems from the Natural Gas Innovation Act, a 2021 state law that, among other things, authorizes gas utilities to collect money from ratepayers for projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Xcel Energy submitted a similar plan to state regulators late last year for its natural-gas utility.
Gas utilities are expected to make up a growing share of the state’s climate pollution as the state’s electric utilities transition to 100% clean power by 2040. Two out of every three households in Minnesota heat their homes with natural gas, and many industries rely on the fuel to operate medium and heavy machinery—a potentially daunting challenge as the state seeks net-zero climate emissions by 2050.
Not a “silver bullet”
The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and other advocates have asked the Public Utilities Commission to supplement the pilot project spending with emissions-reduction targets for the utilities.
While many of CenterPoint’s ideas look promising, and some could eventually scale up to make a bigger impact, Partin said the Natural Gas Innovation Act will not alone drive the state across the finish line for its climate goals.
Other strategies will be needed, such as updating commercial and residential building codes, improving energy-efficiency standards for appliances and considering a ban on allowing any natural gas in new buildings, which, Partin said, “will be difficult in Minnesota’s current political climate.”
Utilities are somewhat hamstrung by the act’s requirement that half the budget for the initial plans must go to alternative fuels, which “stacks the deck” in favor of renewable natural gas and hydrogen, Partin said.
CenterPoint is already blending hydrogen into its system from a downtown Minneapolis facility, so proposing additional such projects does not seem to fit the definition of “innovation,” Partin said. Meanwhile, a recent study by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research found little to no climate benefit from blending hydrogen in existing gas-supply lines, in part because hydrogen is less energy-dense and more prone to leaking.
Joe Dammel, managing director of buildings for Fresh Energy, said CenterPoint’s plan “is definitely not a silver bullet; it’s not going to get us where we need to get.” (Energy News Network is an independent journalism service of Fresh Energy.)