"We need comprehensive reform to cut permitting times, slice through red tape and speed our transition to a clean energy future," the writers say. (Anthony Soufflé/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Opinion editor’s note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

Last year, Gov. Tim Walz signed historic legislation that put Minnesota on a path to achieve 100% carbon-free energy by 2040. But for the clean-energy businesses, utilities and union workforce that builds and operates the infrastructure that generates, stores and transmits power across Minnesota, passage of the law was just the first step.

While the Legislature has required utilities to deliver affordable, reliable and clean power by 2040, that promise will not be realized until permits are in hand and steel is in the ground for thousands of megawatts of clean power supply and hundreds of miles of transmission lines. And, to accomplish that, we need comprehensive reform to cut permitting times, slice through red tape and speed our transition to a clean energy future.

Why is this needed?

Today, approximately 55% of Minnesota’s electricity comes from carbon-free sources, primarily from wind, solar and nuclear, according to the Minnesota Energy Factsheet, published by Clean Energy Economy Minnesota and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy with data input from BloombergNEF and the Minnesota Department of Commerce. In order to reach the 100% law, nearly all the remaining growth in electric generation will need to come from zero- or low-carbon resources, primarily wind and solar generation.

Here’s the hard part: According to the new report “Powering Progress,” published by North Star Policy Action, for Minnesota to hit its target the pace of growth in solar and wind energy generation needs to double, and the state must identify ways to speed up its transition to carbon-free electricity sources. The North Star report complements a recent study from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, which highlights how streamlining our environmental permitting process is an economic imperative to meet our state’s future needs.

What’s standing in the way?

Minnesota’s infrastructure permitting process is 50 years old and requires significant upgrades to better align with the challenges we face today. The average time from application acceptance to permit issuance is considerable. The Powering Progress report reveals the following permit times:

• 250 days for small transmission lines.

• 358 days for wind farms.

• 378 days for solar farms.

• 673 days for larger transmission lines.

Unfortunately, the permitting process is getting slower, in part because more projects are entering the queue. Solar project applications filed in 2019 took 249 days longer to receive a permit, on average, than similar applications filed in 2015. These delays add to project costs and make Minnesota a less desirable place to invest, despite our 100% clean energy law. Developers can — and will — take their business to other states if Minnesota doesn’t reform its outdated permitting laws. The potential clean-energy capacity waiting for permits and transmission interconnection is nearly double the amount that Minnesota currently generates, but in order to unlock our potential, we need to make it easier to build transmission lines and renewable generation.

What’s being proposed?

The Minnesota energy infrastructure permitting act (SF 4784/HF 4700) is a joint effort between the House and Senate to implement recommendations from a group of 35 stakeholders tasked with finding improvements to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission wind, solar and transmission permitting processes. All with the interest of implementing more timely and cost-effective compliance with new clean energy and decarbonization standards in state law.

The bill is authored by House Majority Leader Jamie Long, DFL-Minneapolis, and Senate Energy Chair Nick Frentz, DFL-Mankato, and includes a number of measures that drew the strongest consensus from the working group.

The bill’s reforms can be grouped into two buckets: efficiency, and consistency and transparency. The efficiency bucket includes eliminating several redundant requirements along the permitting process as well as establishing a clear and consistent timeline for each stage of permit review.

The consistency and transparency bucket calls for reorganizing separate permitting processes for different types of projects into a single consistent process, providing greater certainty for applicants and greater transparency for the public. It also ends a requirement to study alternative sites and routes that are not proposed by the applicant or supported by stakeholders or members of the public.

What are the benefits?

Collectively, the changes in this bill offer the opportunity to shave several months off of the permitting timeline for a wind or solar project and even more from the much longer process of approving a large transmission line. The ultimate savings in time and money can be even greater, given that a one- or two-month delay can end up costing developers an entire construction season.

Passage of this bill would also give businesses more certainty in the permitting process and increases the likelihood that they will invest in Minnesota. More clean-energy projects being developed here at home are good for everyone — they create jobs, strengthen local economies across the state and provide a competitive supply of projects for utilities so we can deliver on our commitment of 100% clean energy by 2040 affordably and reliably.

This legislation will result in a faster, simpler, more consistent, predictable and efficient permitting process. And that will help establish the favorable business environment that Minnesota needs to be competitive.

Gregg Mast is executive director of Clean Energy Economy Minnesota. Beth Soholt is executive director of the Clean Grid Alliance. Kevin Pranis is marketing manager with Laborers’ International Union of North America.