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Minnesota is on its way to hitting its renewable energy goals—and it won’t cost taxpayers any extra.

A study released Thursday by MN Solar Pathways found that solar could make up 10 percent of the state’s electricity by 2025. In addition, the report predicts that as renewable energy costs decrease, Minnesota will be able to produce 70 percent of its power from solar and wind by 2050 at costs comparable to natural gas generation.

Minnesota this year has already hit its renewable electricity standard goal of 25 percent by 2025 using wind, solar, biomass, and hydropower. It’s also on course to reach its current solar electricity standard of 1.5 percent by the end of 2020.

“I’m very excited and very pleased by [the report],” said state Sen. John Marty (D), ranking member of the Senate Energy and Utilities Finance and Policy Committee. “I think we will easily exceed what the report predicts.”

MN Solar Pathways, an initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office, is a three-year project designed to explore least-risk, […]