Star Tribune
Summary
Minnesota utility regulators Thursday approved CenterPoint Energy's ambitious $106 million plan for a host of clean energy pilot projects, including renewable natural gas and geothermal heating.
"Decarbonizing the natural gas sector is going to be harder than decarbonizing the electric sector," said PUC Commissioner Joe Sullivan. "It is really important to do this work."
While electricity can be made from renewable sources such as wind and solar, gas for heating and cooking is primarily composed of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. CenterPoint says its plan should eliminate about 14% of its Minnesota greenhouse gas emissions (as tabulated in 2020).
Other spending plans include $11.6 million on a "networked" geothermal heating system so homes would be equipped with geothermal heat pumps, which would all draw on a shared geothermal source as opposed to individual wells; $7.1 million on a pilot program aimed at commercial customers who want to replace their gas-fired HVAC systems with hybrids that use electric heat pumps with gas backups; and $10.6 million on gas research and development.
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