Bring Community Power Networks to Minnesota
What is a Community Power Network?
A community power network connects local energy resources like home batteries, rooftop and community solar, electric vehicles, and smart devices so they can work together when the grid needs them most.
Instead of relying on one big power plant, energy is pulled from many small clean technologies and shared close to home—lowering costs and reducing strain on the grid when demand is highest.
Experts call this a Virtual Power Plant. We call it a smarter, more affordable way to power Minnesota communities.
The Benefits
Lower Energy Costs
The time of day when most people are home using electricity is called peak demand. When we’re collectively using more energy than the grid can supply, expensive and dirty fossil fuel plants are turned on to help cover the difference. Community Power Networks use clean energy and can meet peak electricity demand for 40–60% less than traditional peaker power plants, according to analysis by the Brattle Group. This reduces the need for costly new infrastructure and keeps electricity bills more affordable for Minnesotans.
Increase Reliability
As Minnesota’s electricity demand continues to grow, Community Power Networks can help keep the grid reliable by coordinating local energy resources when they’re needed most. In its 2025 Integrated Distribution Plan, Xcel Minnesota projected peak demand on its distribution system will grow from about 8,600 MW to about 9,300 MW over the next decade under its base case — and to between 9,700 and 10,200 MW under scenarios that assume greater data center and electrification growth — making flexible local energy solutions increasingly important.
Power Communities
Community Power Networks put locally generated energy to work, allowing solar, batteries, electric vehicles, and smart devices already in Minnesota communities to support the grid. Solar United Neighbors estimates that meeting just 10% of Xcel Minnesota’s projected peak demand with a Community Power Network (or Virtual Power Plant) could save $63.5 million annually while delivering reliable, affordable energy closer to home.
Get more insights from Solar United Neighbors’ Minnesota report
What’s Holding Minnesota Back?
In June of 2026 Minnesota had 27,358 rooftop solar systems installed. With community power networks, these systems –– along with home batteries and smart appliances –– could be talking to each other; making our grid even stronger, more efficient, and more affordable.
The technology is here. What Minnesota needs now are policies that put these local energy resources to work.
Our energy system was built for a different era, when electricity came primarily from large, centralized fossil fuel plants and traveled long distances to reach our homes and businesses. Today, more Minnesotans are generating, storing, and managing energy right where they live.
Community Power Networks can connect these resources so they work together to lower costs, reduce strain on the grid, and improve reliability.
HF 2986 and SF 3209 would help make that possible by requiring major utilities, including Xcel Energy and Minnesota Power, to create programs that coordinate local energy resources and reduce peak summer and winter electricity demand by 10% by 2028.
Passing these bills would help Minnesota make better use of the energy resources already in our communities—and build a more affordable, reliable energy system.
Passing these bills would be a game-changer for Minnesota—helping lower energy costs, strengthen the grid, and make better use of the solar, batteries, and other energy resources already in our communities.