Making Minnesota a 'Silicon Valley of clean energy' goal of House bill

“A kind of Silicon Valley of clean energy.”

That’s how Rep. Larry Kraft (DFL-St. Louis Park) envisions Minnesota Energy Alley. Its name is inspired by the Medical Alley consortium that launched in 1984 and has grown to include a plethora of prominent Minnesota-based companies working in the health sciences and medical technology.

Minnesota Energy Alley is intended to be something similar for companies working in the sphere of renewable energy. It was launched in 2023 with a $3 million grant from Minnesota’s Renewable Development Account, and now Kraft would like to see its early successes built upon with another $5 million appropriation from the account in fiscal year 2026.

That’s the focus of HF1013, which, after being replaced by a delete-all amendment, was laid over for possible omnibus bill inclusion by the House Energy Finance and Policy Committee on Tuesday.

Under the bill, the grant from the state may be used to:

• support the initiative;
• provide seed funding for businesses;
• develop a training and development program;
• support recruitment of entrepreneurs to Minnesota; and
• secure funding from federal programs and corporate partners to establish a self-sustaining, long-term revenue model.

“We are leading in deploying clean energy in Minnesota,” Kraft said. “So let’s capitalize on that to create an energy innovation ecosystem here in what is one of the most exciting, fastest growing and largest global markets of the 21st century. This can be a huge jobs and investment engine for Minnesota. And this effort should be a poster child for private-public partnership.”

So has that initial $3 million grant from 2023 borne fruit? Nina Axelson, president and founder of Grid Catalyst says it has.

“To date, we have supported over 20 Minnesota-based businesses in advancing their technologies toward commercialization,” she said. “Eight earlier-stage Minnesota startups are in our Power North incubator. Five Minnesota startups have participated in our demonstration program with pilots funded by Minnesota Energy Alley alongside six companies that we have attracted to Minnesota through the program.

“Over $9 million has been attracted in public and private funding from our Minnesota cohort companies since 2024. In total, we have invested just over $1 million in all the pilots, attracting over $11 million total in what we call follow-on funding, or public and private investment. This doubles our initial goal of attracting $5 million through the program.”

“The return on investment speaks for itself,” said Rep. Katie Jones (DFL-Mpls). “This is exactly what we want in Minnesota.”

“We are confident that a second round of investment from the state will be key to long-term success without additional state funds,” Axelson said. “Other states, as well as international partners, are asking, ‘How do we do this? How do we replicate where Minnesota is leading?’”