Minnesota’s Natural Gas Innovation Act paves the way to renewable energy resources
Thanks to a pioneering effort by CenterPoint Energy, Minnesota’s natural gas utilities may now move forward with the development of innovative, clean energy resources and technologies, including made-in-Minnesota renewable natural gas and green hydrogen.
The Natural Gas Innovation Act creates a state regulatory policy that offers new opportunities for a natural gas utility to provide customers with access to renewable energy resources and new technologies that reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Brad Tutunjian, CenterPoint Energy vice president–Minnesota Region, said he is excited about the law’s passage.
“The challenge of dramatically reducing emissions from natural gas use will require utilities to explore a range of potential solutions such as energy efficiency, hydrogen, RNG, carbon capture and more. To do this, utilities need a flexible regulatory framework that’s open to different solutions and pathways,” Tutunjian told American Gas. “The Natural Gas Innovation Act shows that it’s possible to gather broad-based stakeholder support for such a framework and create new opportunities for utilities.”
Utilities can submit a natural gas innovation plan to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission for consideration. The law allows a utility to recover costs, up to a cap, for investments under an approved plan.
CenterPoint Energy said it will likely submit its first plan next year. The plan could include strategies such as RNG produced by recycling biogas from organic materials including agricultural manure, wastewater, food waste, and agricultural or forest waste; green hydrogen produced by using renewable electricity to split water and create a carbon-free gas that can be blended with conventional natural gas; and end-use carbon-capture technology that converts emissions from natural gas space or water heating equipment into a powder, which can then be recycled into commercial products.
Its plan may also include leading-edge energy efficiency technologies not currently eligible for funding through other sources, the utility said.