City of Minneapolis seeks to boost businesses’ solar adoption

By Virginia Rutter on February 14, 2018

.The City of Minneapolis recently announced a new incentive program for small businesses that invest in rooftop solar. Businesses that install a rooftop solar system within the City of Minneapolis can apply to receive a bonus check from the city.

“The City of Minneapolis sees energy use as inextricably linked to human health in terms of direct pollution from our power plants and the adverse effects of climate change,” said Patrick Hanlon, City of Minneapolis Health Department Director of Environmental Programs. “Increasing solar energy production promotes quantifiably cleaner energy and therefore a healthier environment for everyone. These solar incentives, along with other state and federal incentive programs, address the gap between individual financial costs and social cost of energy to produce real increases in solar production.”

Highest priority will be given in buildings participating in the City of Minneapolis Benchmarking program. For qualifying buildings, businesses will receive an incentive of $0.25 per estimated annual kilowatt/hours of electricity produced for the first year of production, up to $75,000.

If your business is in the Green Zones of Minneapolis, you’ll get priority and a larger incentive of $0.35 per estimated annual kwh production. The two Green Zones, North Side and South Side, were established in 2017 after recommendations by the Minneapolis Climate Action Plan Environmental Justice Working Group. A Green Zone is a place-based policy initiative aimed at improving health and supporting economic development using environmentally conscious efforts in communities that face the cumulative effects of environmental pollution, as well as social, political and economic vulnerability.

The entire budget for the program is $500,000, so we encourage you to sign up soon. And remember, businesses are also welcome to join our Uptown Solar Co-op as well!

Eligibility Requirements:

  • Building must be located within the City of Minneapolis
  • Building owner must provide details of matching funds for project. Any funds received outside of this program’s funding qualify for the match. This includes but not limited to grants, utility rebates, and business financing.

The City is receiving applications on a rolling basis. It will be considering applications on March 1, April 1, May 1, and June 1.