On the Road to 100 Percent Renewables for Minnesota

The document argues that Minnesota can meet its electricity needs with 100 percent renewable energy by 2035, leading to significant public health savings, job growth, and emissions reductions, provided the transition is managed equitably.

• Minnesota can achieve 100 percent of its electricity consumption through renewable energy by 2035, even when accounting for high levels of electrification in transportation and heating. By 2040, a 100% Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) scenario would result in approximately 13 GW of wind, over 13 GW of solar, and 6 GW of battery storage.
• The shift to renewable energy is projected to provide significant economic gains by 2040 compared to a 'No New Policy' scenario, including $10.4 billion in additional state GDP growth and $4.9 billion in cumulative increases to labor income.
• The 100% RES scenario is expected to create over 40,000 additional jobs (more than 160,000 job-years) in the construction and installation of new power capacity, primarily in wind and solar, which would far outweigh the job losses from retiring fossil fuel plants.
• While a 100% RES scenario reduces emissions, a 'Restricted Fossil Fuel' scenario—which limits the construction of new combined-cycle gas-fired plants—is necessary to keep power sector CO2 emissions trending toward near-zero.
• The average residential energy burden (the percentage of income spent on electricity and gas) is projected to rise slightly from 4.0 percent in 2020 to 4.8 percent in 2040 under the 100% RES scenario, though this does not account for potential savings from electric vehicles and heat pumps.

APA

Gignac, J., Sitko, E., Rogers, J., Hernández, M., García, P., & Sattler, S. (2022). On the Road to 100 Percent Renewables for Minnesota. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2022-05/on-the-road-100-renewable-mn-fact-sheet.pdf

Chicago

Gignac, James, Edyta Sitko, John Rogers, Marco Hernández, Paula García, and Sandra Sattler. On the Road to 100 Percent Renewables for Minnesota. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2022. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2022-05/on-the-road-100-renewable-mn-fact-sheet.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gignac |first1=James |last2=Sitko |first2=Edyta |last3=Rogers |first3=John |last4=Hernández |first4=Marco |last5=García |first5=Paula |last6=Sattler |first6=Sandra |title=On the Road to 100 Percent Renewables for Minnesota |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=April 2022 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2022-05/on-the-road-100-renewable-mn-fact-sheet.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gignac2022road, author = {Gignac, James and Sitko, Edyta and Rogers, John and Hernández, Marco and García, Paula and Sattler, Sandra}, title = {{On the Road to 100 Percent Renewables for Minnesota}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2022}, month = apr, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2022-05/on-the-road-100-renewable-mn-fact-sheet.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }