This bill amends Minnesota's energy laws with a focus on large water appropriation projects and data centers. It requires preapplication filings for large water appropriation projects that exceed certain consumption thresholds, ensuring early engagement with the Department of Natural Resources. The Public Utilities Commission is tasked with conducting environmental reviews for data centers that increase their average hourly load by 100 megawatts or more. Additionally, the bill removes data centers' energy consumption from the calculation of a utility's energy savings goal and exempts them from contributing to energy conservation plans, while imposing a fee on data centers to support energy conservation initiatives. It also modifies the definition of a large energy facility to include backup generators for data centers and establishes energy requirements for these facilities.

Moreover, the bill mandates that by December 31, 2030, data centers must generate or procure at least 65% of their electricity from carbon-free sources, increasing to 100% thereafter. Data centers are required to submit compliance plans and report their energy consumption and waste reduction efforts annually. A clean energy tariff must be developed by the Public Utilities Commission by January 1, 2026, creating a separate customer class for data centers to prevent their energy costs from adversely affecting other utility customers. The bill emphasizes compliance with renewable energy standards, includes penalties for noncompliance, and makes data centers ineligible for state financial incentives until they meet the specified requirements.

Statutes affected:
Introduction: 103G.265, 103G.271, 116D.04, 216B.2402, 216B.241, 216B.2421