Senate energy omnibus bill (SF2393) advanced after amendment; committee hears testimony on net metering, community solar, data centers and RDA projects

Senator Laura France presented Senate File 2393, the Senate energy omnibus bill, to the Minnesota Senate Energy, Utilities, Environment, and Climate Committee and walked members through budget and policy provisions, including appropriations from the Renewable Development Account (RDA), transfers to geothermal planning, and policy changes affecting net metering, community solar, data centers, and the carbon‑free standard.

The committee adopted the A3 delete‑all amendment offered with the bill and laid the measure over for a Wednesday markup. Senator France said the package reflects bipartisan negotiation and singled out the committee's 100% clean energy by 2040 framework as a central goal, asking members to “consider, what is the way to reduce carbon emissions the most and the fastest?”

Why it matters: SF2393 combines budget adjustments and multiple policy changes that affect utility customers, renewable project funding, and regulatory review. Testimony from state agencies, utilities, clean‑energy advocates, local governments and industry highlighted competing priorities: protecting ratepayers and low‑income customers, sustaining community solar and net‑metering access, enabling large data‑center development, and directing limited RDA dollars to selected projects.

Major budget and program items

Staff described two categories of fiscal change. A transfer reduced the ongoing general fund appropriation for pre‑weatherization workforce training from a base of $3,199,000 per year to $1,199,000 per year, a $2,000,000 annual reduction that staff described as producing net savings of about $4,000,000 in fiscal 2026–27 and in the tails. A forecast adjustment to interest income reduced the RDA by roughly $8.831 million (staff noted an approximate $13,000,000 reduction overall carried into FY26). The amendment also shows about $20,000,000 of new spending and transfers from the…