Local Energy Rules

What does it take to build a community solar project (with battery storage) in a small town in northern Minnesota when the monopoly wholesale energy company tells your small city-owned utility to “lawyer up”? Bill Schnell is the lead volunteer with the Itasca Clean Energy Team, a small group of active citizens in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, working to secure a community solar project for the town. He spoke with John Farrell, ILSR’s director of energy democracy, in January 2019, about building community support for the project and overcoming the objections of Minnesota Power, the electricity supplier to the small town’s city-owned utility. https://ilsr.org/articles/small-minn-community-david-v-goliath-community-solar-episode-69-local-energy-rules-podcast/