Green Energy

It’s a boom time for the clean and green energy sector in Minnesota—and for the alternative energy law attorneys who negotiate real estate leases, wade through government regulations, complete reports for permits, or hammer out the details of a partnership between utilities, renewable energy providers, and product manufacturers.

Minnesota boasts strong industries for wind energy, solar power, and biomass, and entrepreneurs are striving to bring emerging technologies to market, including geothermal energy and biodiesel.

In 2006, Minnesota generated 3,077 million kilowatt hours of electricity from non-hydro renewable resources such as wind and solar power, and 1,066 million kilowatt hours of electricity using biomass (energy created from burning natural products such as wood and animal waste) according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The state’s overall energy production in 2005 was 70,337 million kilowatt hours, and renewable energy generation continues to increase every year.

Building on its strong agricultural background, Minnesota has served as a leader in creating and utilizing renewable forms of energy since the 1970s. Today, it ranks third in the nation for producing wind energy and fourth for ethanol, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. Those numbers will only increase as the state’s new renewable energy standard fuels the alternative energy industry. The legislation, signed into law by Governor Tim Pawlenty in 2007, requires utilities to produce 25 percent of their electricity using forms of renewable energy by 2025.

“The renewable energy sector in Minnesota is going to grow like crazy in the next five to 10 years,” predicts Bill Holmes, head of the energy practice group at Stoel Rives, LLP, in Minneapolis. The Portland, Oregon–based firm opened a Twin Cities office in 2007 to expand its renewable energy practice in what it sees as a very fertile market.

David Quinby, office managing partner of Stoel Rives in Minneapolis, calls Minnesota’s alternative energy sector a major growth industry. “The Midwest has shown leadership in the past five to six years, and it goes back to promoting and providing opportunities for developers to lead much of the country in developing renewable or alternative energy,” he says. “This industry here will see capital coming to it.”