CEE's president provided testimony on data center bill provisions
On April 1, 2025, before the Minnesota House’s Energy Committee, CEE’s President Chris Duffrin provided testimony for HF 2928, a bill that addresses several concerns related to new data centers in the state. The testimony focused on provisions that CEE staff contributed to the bill involving a fee on data centers that would go directly to funding low-income weatherization efforts.
The following is the full testimony. With adequate planning, oversight, and collaboration, we are optimistic about integrating these facilities into local communities in a way that supports our state’s economic and environmental goals.
HF 2928 – CEE Testimony, April 1, 2025
Mr. Chair and members of the committee: I am Chris Duffrin, president of Center for Energy and Environment. CEE conducts field research, implements programs, provides financing, and supports communities, businesses, and residents to save energy and money. Thank you for the opportunity to testify and thank you to Rep. Acomb for your leadership on this bill. In the interest of time, I will limit my comments to the income-eligible weatherization provisions in sections 6 and 9.
CEE welcomes and supports data centers in Minnesota. As a state committed to clean energy, we have an opportunity to match new energy loads seeking clean resources with utilities providing clean energy resources, while the additional energy sales can help our utilities pay for the infrastructure upgrades our system needs.
At the same time, data centers present unique challenges. We have to balance energy supply with these new significant demands, particularly during peak times, while maintaining affordability and reliability.
Reducing heating and cooling loads through weatherization is an essential strategy in eliminating waste from the energy system during system peak periods. When we combine insulation with highly efficient dual fuel air source heat pumps, we reduce customer costs and shift home heating toward electricity during shoulder seasons when we have abundant clean energy. Efficiency benefits households with lower bills, lowers peaks to benefit the grid, and builds jobs for contractors across our state.
This bill does not fund all the weatherization Minnesota needs, but by investing in those least able to afford it, the bill builds on current programming funded by the federal Department of Energy and ECO Act. By building on Minnesota’s existing program delivery infrastructure, we can avoid redundancy but still allow the Department of Commerce to increase capacity from qualified companies through an RFP process.
According to our analysis, approximately 290,000 households with incomes of 80% area median income or below still require weatherization, which at current pace will take approximately 130 years to complete. This bill can improve that pace and help customers statewide regardless of where they live and what fuel they heat their home with.
For data centers, the funding mechanism provides certainty on what they would pay and an automatic exemption from ECO, saving them time and money from the current process.
In short, we think this provision provides economic, community, and utility system benefits while still encouraging new beneficial load here in Minnesota.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify and to Representative Acomb for this bill.