- Target: 100% renewable electricity for city operations by 2022, community wide by 2030
- Status: In progress
- RES: Wind and solar power
- Implementation: In April 2018, Minneapolis became the largest city in the United State's Midwest to commit to 100% clean and renewable electricity, focusing on a shift from fossil fuels to wind and solar power. The resolution was supported by the Sierra Club and national youth activist organization iMatter. It set out ambitious goals that complemented the city’s Climate Action Plan, which aimed to reduce carbon emissions in the coming decades. The city's high solar capacity provided a good basis for the state’s community solar program which generate around 44MW. Residential customers of the utility company Xcel's program achieved savings through the community solar subscription, and a third of the power produced went to public-sector entities such as schools. Xcel Energy, which has its headquarters in Minneapolis, operates several solar power plants in the state and across the country. Along with environmental sustainability, the city's clean energy policy included strategies that ensured that all consumers, communities of color, low-income communities, renters, equally benefit from the energy transition.
- Population: 429,954 city, 3,690,261 metro (2020)
- Area: 57.49 sq mi (148.89 km2)
- Link: Blueprint for Powering Minneapolis Municipal Operations with 100% Renewable Electricity by 2022 (pdf)
- © Kevin Sorensen