July 21, 2003—The McKnight Foundation announced recently it will devote $8.1 million over three years to a renewable energy programprimarily wind energyin seven Upper Midwest states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
McKnight will work with The Energy Foundation, a San Francisco-based national renewable energy leader, to administer the program. McKnight has had a 10-year partnership with The Energy Foundation.
McKnight’s investment seeks to capitalize on, and promote, the Upper Midwest’s leadership role in national energy policy. It builds on the three-year-old McKnight/Energy Foundation program “Wind on the Wires,” which is designed to bring wind energy to market by improving and expanding the current power grid infrastructure. And it seeks to reinforce the economic development potential of alternative energy investments in hard-hit rural areas.
Existing wind energy projects in the Midwest create enough power for 250,000 homes in the region, pay more than $2 million per year in royalties to farmers, and eliminate almost 3 million tons of carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants, equivalent to taking 469,000 cars off the road.
Since 1993 The Energy Foundation and The McKnight Foundation have worked together to promote public policies to encourage development of renewable power and more efficient use of energy. This partnership was formalized in 1997 when McKnight made a three-year, $3 million grant to the Energy Foundation to implement the Upper Midwest Clean Energy Initiative, a jointly developed strategy to encourage wind power development and stimulate businesses that help people use energy more efficiently in Minnesota and the Midwest.
