ROCHESTER \u2013 Federal tariffs and higher-than-expected contract costs for renewable energy sources have local utilities officials in a bind: Do they push the added expenses onto residents, or do they push back the city\u2019s much touted sustainability goal?<\/p>\n
Rochester Public Utilities plan to gauge community interest in moving back its timeline to have 100% net renewable energy by 2030, allowing renewable energy sources to cover Rochester\u2019s energy consumption and reduce carbon emissions. <\/p>\n
To accomplish that, residents would have to eat a 6% electric rate increase next year, and likely weather similar increases through the end of this decade. Or residents can have an average of a 4% rate increase for the next few years, and Rochester likely won\u2019t get to hit its renewable energy goals until 2040.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to frame customer research as \u2018Should we stay the course at higher expense for earlier environmental benefit … or should we follow Minnesota\u2019s carbon-free standard at slightly less short-term costs?\u2019\u201d said Tim McCollough, general manager at Rochester Public Utilities.<\/p>\n
If Rochester chooses to delay its renewable energy timeline, it would mean a significant shift in vision the city had planned for the better part of a decade. It would also mean losing the city\u2019s place among communities in adopting sustainable energy practices amid Minnesota\u2019s push to get carbon-free energy production statewide by 2040.<\/p>\n
Minneapolis and St. Paul have committed to 100% net renewable energy by 2030, while Moorhead\u2019s electrical system met its 100% renewable energy goal in 2021. Other communities like Hibbing are striving to meet energy goals through wood-burning and other biomass sources, though it\u2019s unclear whether the state<\/a> counts that as carbon-free.<\/p>\n In 2015 then-Mayor Ardell Brede announced Rochester would seek to become energy net-zero by 2031, though utilities officials would later aim for a year earlier. The proclamation positioned the city as an early adopter in community climate change efforts.<\/p>\n Despite progress, including a 2019 pledge from Rochester Public Utilities to transition its electricity to 100% renewable resources, the city remains a ways from becoming carbon-free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROCHESTER \u2013 Federal tariffs and higher-than-expected contract costs for renewable energy sources have local utilities officials in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-81125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}