Building Energy Democracy in Minnesota
Community Power is a coalition-driven nonprofit advocating for clean, equitable, and locally controlled energy solutions. Since our origins as the 2013 Minneapolis Energy Options campaign, we’ve fought to democratize Minnesota’s energy system, prioritizing environmental justice and community empowerment.
Our Mission
Educating and activating Minnesotans to leverage local power – creating Clean, Local, Equitable, Affordable, and Resilient energy systems.
Our Values
Together, we can reimagine the energy future—one that’s sustainable, community-driven, and reckons with the racialized wealth disparities Minnesota, in particular, carries.
Our Goals
A CLEAR Vision to Minnesota’s Energy Future
At the heart of our work are ten ambitious goals designed to create a CLEAN, LOCAL, EQUITABLE, AFFORDABLE, and RESILIENT energy system. These include:
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100% Clean, Renewable Power: No fossil fuels, nuclear, waste incineration or technologies that prolong reliance on redundant, risky, expensive, and dirty systems such as carbon capture & sequestration and synthetic gas.
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75% Local Energy Ownership: Communities own the energy they use, ensuring profits benefit everyone.
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33% Locally Generated Energy: Energy is generated and used within local substation footprints.
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Affordable Energy for All: No household spends more than 5% of income on energy.
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Energy Efficiency Gains: By 2040, statewide energy use is 30% lower than in 2014.
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Inclusive Clean Energy Access: Clean energy benefits extend across all income levels and property ownership statuses.
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Modernizing for Resilience the Electrical Grid Must Evolve to: Maximize local power, withstand increasingly unpredictable climate events such as drought, flood, and extreme temperatures, and integrate fluctuating market, usage, and technology changes.
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Centering Communities and Equity: Communities’ interests along the power system (from extraction to manufacturing to generation/storage to transmission/distribution to consumption to disposal) are included in decision-making, and those in the “supply shed” of energy extraction have power of consent.
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Equity must be integrated across time and species, accounting for: Risks-benefits to future generations and ecology (beyond humans) are included.
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Protecting the Future Through Policy: The regulatory, policy, and local government compacts across Minnesota explicitly enshrine and protect the above outcomes rather than those from the early 1900s.