
The report from the University of Minnesota's Energy Transition Lab, “Modernizing Minnesota’s Grid: An Economic Analysis of Energy Storage Opportunities,” may sport a matter-of-fact title, but its content is electrifying, according to a release from the lab:
Energy Storage Paired with Solar Found to Be More Cost Effective in Minnesota Today than Natural Gas Peaking Plants
As federal policy on renewable energy is being rolled back, a new UMN-led report finds that when environmental benefits are considered combined energy storage and solar arrays can be a more cost-effective alternative in Minnesota – implementable today – to natural gas peaking plants, which are fired up only to meet peak demand.
It also shows that increasing the deployment of energy storage combined with renewable energy would help Minnesota meet its statutory goal of 80 percent carbon reduction by 2050 sooner and at a lower cost than other technologies.
The report, “Modernizing Minnesota’s Grid: An Economic Analysis of Energy Storage Opportunities,” is the result of months-long effort led by the Energy Transition Lab (ETL) at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment. Lessons learned could also be applied to other Midwest states that are in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) footprint.
“Energy storage is a linchpin for Minnesota: It has the potential to reduce our system costs, increase electric grid resiliency, and even decrease greenhouse gas emissions in our broader coal-dependent region,” said Ellen Anderson, director of the Energy Transition Lab. “While the federal government questions the reliability of renewable energy, states like Minnesota are stepping up to show it’s possible to connect renewables and storage to reduce both costs and greenhouse gas emissions, while maintaining a reliable grid.”
Input from dozens of Minnesota energy experts laid the foundation for the analysis and final report. ETL convened more than 60 stakeholders, including representatives from utilities, energy technology companies, nonprofits and government, in two Energy Storage Strategy Workshops starting in 2016 to assess the opportunities for energy storage in Minnesota and at MISO. Participants explored whether and how energy storage could be used to help Minnesota achieve its energy policy objectives, and enable greater system efficiency, resiliency and affordability. Project collaborators Strategen Consulting and Vibrant Clean Energy conducted the use-case and system-wide modeling for the analysis, with input from MISO.
In addition to showing that storage plus solar already could be more cost effective than peaking gas plants, including environmental benefits, the analysis shows that the deployment of storage in Minnesota is projected to increase the use of low-cost renewable energy generation dispatched in MISO and to reduce the need for expensive transmission investments.
Furthermore, it shows that as standalone storage becomes more economic, it will be able to compete with and displace new gas combustion turbines installed to meet peak demand. Beyond 2022, storage was found to be more cost effective than a simple cycle gas-fired peaking plant for meeting Minnesota’s capacity needs.
Connexus, Minnesota’s largest distribution cooperative, was a participant in the workshops and is already pursuing procurement of a 20MW, 40MWh energy-storage system. It will be one of largest storage projects of its kind in the Midwest. According to Connexus, responses to its Request for Proposals have been encouraging, with prices even more competitive than anticipated. . . .
The news is spreading. Witness the Associated Press's article, Report pushes state toward more energy storage, in the St. Cloud Times.
In a separate news development, Quartz environmental reporter Zoë Schlanger looked at a Morgan Stanley financial analysis of the renewable energy market in Renewable energy is becoming so cheap the US will meet Paris commitments even if Trump withdraws:
Research analysts at Morgan Stanley believe that renewable energy like solar and wind power are hurtling towards a level of ubiquity where not even politics can hinder them. Renewable energy is simply becoming the cheapest option, fast. Basic economics, the analysts say, suggest that the US will exceed its commitments in the Paris agreement regardless of whether or not president Donald Trump withdraws, as he’s stated he will.
“We project that by 2020, renewables will be the cheapest form of new-power generation across the globe,” with the exception of a few countries in Southeast Asia, the Morgan Stanley analysts said in a report published Thursday.
“By our forecasts, in most cases favorable renewables economics rather than government policy will be the primary driver of changes to utilities’ carbon emissions levels,” they wrote. “For example, notwithstanding president Trump’s stated intention to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord, we expect the US to exceed the Paris commitment of a 26-28% reduction in its 2005-level carbon emissions by 2020.”
Globally, the price of solar panels has fallen 50% between 2016 and 2017, they write. And in countries with favorable wind conditions, the costs associated with wind power “can be as low as one-half to one-third that of coal- or natural gas-fired power plants.”
The Energy Transition Lab will hold the Midwest Energy Storage Summit September 15, 2017. Although it does seem designed for "stakeholders," the general public is invited ($50 for general public registration) :
The University of Minnesota’s Energy Transition Lab, in partnership with the Minnesota Energy Storage Alliance, will host the Midwest Energy Storage Summit on Friday September 15, 2017 at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The Summit will include over 300 participants from throughout the Midwest representing the energy industry, public sector, academia and nonprofit sectors.
The Summit will run from 8:00 AM- 4:00 PM on September 15th and will be followed by a networking reception from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM at the University of Minnesota Campus Club. The event is open to the public but space is limited so register today. The modest registration fee includes meals and the networking reception.
Learn more about Minnesota Energy Storage Alliance (MESA) here.
Meanwhile, in Chippewa County

While that's a large-scale development, wind and solar energy generation continues on a farm-scale in West Central Minnesota.
We attended the solar and wind energy field day on Saturday in Chippewa County, Minnesota, witnessing how two multi-generational, sustainable family farmers were generating their own power--and selling the excess to their local electrical co-ops. We purchased some mighty tasty (and affordable) bacon that had been stored in the freezers on the home-grown grid at Pastures O Plenty. It wedded nice with the broccoli from our own work at the Borrowed Garden.
As farmers have long known, plants are a way to capture the sun's energy for human use. It's good to see researchers and engineers help the rest of the economy catch up with the zucchini and kohlrabi. And bacon.
Photos Above: A large-scale grid storage facility in Oregon. Via Midwest Energy News. Below: Participants in Saturday's renewable energy field day take shelter from the sun beneath the modular solar array at Pastures O Plenty farm. The system had been turned off for safety purposes, so the experience wasn't completely electrifying. The solar unit doesn't have any storage, but sells excess to the local co-op. It's all good.
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