Stoel Rives attorney David Quinby was quoted in Twin Cities Business magazine in an article titled “The New Economics Of Renewable Energy.” The article discusses how the decreasing costs of producing renewable energy, primarily wind and solar, are making its use cost competitive with fossil-based electric power sources and thus more attractive to businesses of all sizes.
A majority of 200 industry professionals surveyed for a recent report believe prices for power generated by utility-scale solar installations will equal those for coal-generated power within at least five years and perhaps sooner. The price of power at these arrays has dropped 70 percent since 2008, according to one source. One Minnesota company, Ecolab, has announced it plans to get all of the electricity it uses for its Minnesota R&D and engineering facilities from solar power, amounting to approximately 552 million kilowatt-hours over 25 years.
Quinby says that regulatory changes, technological advances and the good press received from purchasing renewable energy are attracting large U.S. corporations to make new energy moves, and he sees Ecolab’s commitment to solar power as indicative that big companies believe such moves are a good investment. “Over a 25-year period, it provides them with a ‘known’ in an unknown energy market. Regardless of one’s political persuasion, the fact is energy prices have generally gone up,” he said.
Read “The New Economics Of Renewable Energy,” published May 29, 2015.