In the latest episode of Critical Path, host John Engel sits down with Jamez Staples, founder and CEO of Renewable Energy Partners, to explore how clean energy can create both opportunity and equity — and how technology from OATI is helping make it possible.
Founded in the wake of Minnesota’s 2013 Solar Jobs Act, Renewable Energy Partners (REP) emerged with a mission to bridge the gap between climate action and economic opportunity.
“It’s a sense of dignity and self-worth that comes from getting skilled, trained, and ultimately powering your neighbor’s home,” Staples said on a recent episode of Critical Path.
Through training programs and local hiring initiatives, REP is building what Staples calls a “green collar economy” — one that opens doors for underserved communities to take part in the clean energy transition.
Creating access through innovation
REP’s community solar projects are breaking down barriers to entry to the energy transition for low-income residents. With no upfront costs or credit checks, subscribers can access discounted solar power while contributing to local job creation.
One of these projects, located on the rooftop of North High School in Minneapolis, brings together energy savings, education, and workforce development — creating tangible pathways from classroom to career.
Resilience that nourishes
The North Minneapolis Community Resiliency Hub, developed in partnership with OATI, takes these ideas to scale. The multi-site initiative will deploy 1.4 MW of solar and 2 MW of energy storage across four public school facilities, all managed by OATI’s GridMind® microgrid controller.
Among them is the local Nutrition Center, a critical facility that produces meals for students and families. When severe weather strikes — as it did during a devastating tornado in 2012 — this microgrid will ensure food security and 24/7 operations.
“We’re supporting neighborhoods; we’re developing workforce; we’re developing projects, we’re developing people, we’re developing community,” Staples said.
Request the GridMind® Datasheet
Powering schools, empowering people
The hub’s impact extends beyond resilience. By selling energy back to the Minneapolis School District at a discounted rate, the project delivers direct economic benefits, allowing schools to focus resources on their core mission — educating children.
“This project is for people who can’t just pack up and go when the power’s out,” said Staples.
As the conversation around clean energy evolves from decarbonization to resilience, projects like this highlight what’s possible when technology and equity converge. OATI’s partnership with Renewable Energy Partners underscores a shared belief: reliable, affordable, and sustainable power should be accessible to all.
Episode Transcript
John Engel
Clean energy isn’t just about megawatts and mandates, it’s about people. And sometimes the most innovative projects are born from the intersection of policy, equity and community vision. In Minneapolis, that vision is becoming reality. What started as a response to Minnesota’s 2013 Solar Jobs Act has grown into a mission to build a green collar economy, one that pairs climate solutions with career pathways for underserved communities.
I’m John Engel. You’re watching Critical Path, a show designed to unpack the untold stories of the grid.
On this episode, I’m joined by Jamez Staples, founder and CEO of Renewable Energy Partners. Over the past decade, his team has gone from buying an abandoned roller skating rink on the north side of Minneapolis to developing workforce training programs and large scale clean energy projects.
And now, in partnership with OATI, they’re tackling something truly groundbreaking. The North Minneapolis Community Resiliency Hub. We’ll take you inside this effort to deploy microgrids with a total of 1.4 MW of solar and 2 MW of battery storage across four public school buildings. Resources that can not only keep the lights on during outages, but also deliver unique revenue streams and social impact.
Here’s Jamez Staples.
Jamez Staples, great to see you and thanks so much for joining me on the show. I really appreciate it.
Jamez Staples
No problem. Happy to be here. Thank you.
John Engel
Yeah I think there’s a lot to get to here and a couple of different lanes. One is exclusively Renewable Energy Partners. I think has an incredible story. Over the last decade plus of your origin story, the impact that you’ve been able to have in communities and kind of that ongoing mission statement. So we’ll get to that. And then where OATI comes in and the resilience project that we’re working on in Minneapolis and some of the tangible details around how that project is coming together and the uniqueness of an urban multi-microgrid setup.
But before diving into all the project stuff, I want to spend some time on REP and you, Jamez Staples. I think that story is, is worth spending the bulk of this conversation on. So why don’t you start off by sharing a little bit about your entrance into this space. So back before Renewable Energy Partners, what was that that initial, nudge into this crazy world?
Jamez Staples
Well, the energy space is something that’s always been interesting to me, but not necessarily know how to get involved in it and engage with it. And so the primary for me getting into the space was, was the, the issue of the racial disparities, acknowledging that Minnesota has some of the worst racial disparities in the country when you aggregate them in terms of income, education, home ownership, you know, you name it. And when you aggregate that, it becomes a big issue. And so, when I, when I ended up, I was living in the Virgin Islands at the time and while I was there, I didn’t know how to get into solar energy before solar energy beforehand because Van Jones had coined the term addressing climate change and poverty is a big deal. And I was like, wow, that’s something really cool. But I wanted in on it somehow, but didn’t know how. And so when the, when I moved back from the islands and Governor Dayton, at the time, I want to say this was 2012, 2013 mandated that 1.5% of the state’s energy come from solar power. I looked at that as a market signal and as a way to help address the issues in my community, but also creating jobs for myself and other people in the neighborhood.
So that’s kind of how I got into this space.
John Engel
You’re now the second person I’ve interviewed for this show that has brought up Van Jones’ statement about energy and equity, which is, is, an interesting theme that’s developing very early on in this show’s existence. But, you know, on that point, there are so many way different ways to look at racial disparity and, income inequality and, you know, public health, a bunch of different ways.
Energy is one that I think we all seem to arrive at this industry, with little to no previous experience. And it’s super complicated. It’s a tough one to grasp. And when you go from not just project development to execution, there’s so much that goes into it. So why specifically energy? Like what? What separated that opportunity, from maybe some others in addressing sort of your primary goal?
Jamez Staples
Well, the electrical industry for me, I looked at it. And when you tie those two together climate change and poverty. Right. And so I’m just going to be really frank here. When the people of the predominant culture have a concern or an issue. Right. And it’s and it’s a dire issue if the people who are of the lower income stratosphere can be the help, be the solution of that, it fixes both problems at the same time.
Right? And so for me, I looked at this, I call it the sky is falling kind of thought process right where oh, we got to do something, but we don’t know how to do it. And the people on the other hand say, hey, look, if I can actually support myself in this process, I will help fix your problem. That is a big opportunity, right? And this is not just. And when I say a big opportunity, it’s a global phenomenon. And so the idea that we are fixing it’s a sense of dignity and respect and self-worth that’s established through the process of one getting skilled, getting trained and ultimately going to work in the industry right. But then to know that you are ultimately powering your neighbor’s home, right, and supporting your own livelihood and a clean mechanism, it’s huge.
John Engel
You just gave us a perfect transition. You said getting skilled and trained. And I know that this isn’t just about developing solar and storage and microgrid projects for you guys. There’s it’s all rooted in this really clear impact statement. So I think before getting into all of this stuff you guys are doing on the workforce development front and the community impact front, how about you, set the stage a little bit for what Renewable Energy Partners is doing today? What’s your core focus?
Jamez Staples
Well, Renewable Energy Partners is a solar development firm. And aside from developing solar projects, we are vertically integrated in that process, becoming, by becoming electro, electrical contractor, which we also now install projects. We have a project going up not far from a headquarters here at 1200 Plymouth, to, right up on Penn and Plymouth, which is a health clinic in the neighborhood, which we’re installing. I want to say maybe 250kW of solar on the rooftop of that building. Right. So we’re not just kind of like, you know, talking about it. We’re actually doing it. We’re developing projects or installing projects, and we’re seeding the neighborhood in which we see to have more people actually start to understand what the solar energy industry layout looks like.
What we’re also doing is we’re developing entry points to the solar energy industry by way of subscribers, as community solar developers. So we’re developing community solar projects for low income communities, making sure that there’s access points. That’s happening one block from here on the rooftop of North High School and other sites within the community that we’ve development projects. And so we’re that’s a low income communities solar garden, which there’s no with no upfront cost. There’s no credit requirement. It’s a pay as you go program. So just like you pay your bill, you pay this, you pay your community solar grant subscription and you’re getting a discounted rate on your on your utility bill. And as a result of that, the the employment opportunities are happening.
Also, we’re developing microgrids in this neighborhood right in partnership with OATI. Right. So across the street from us, we’ve got on the maintenance facility right here on patent pending, Fremont, we’re putting solar on the rooftop of that and a battery storage system. We’re putting solar on the rooftop of the, Franklin Middle School, Paul Elementary and a nutrition center. And so I will point out the nutrition center specifically because that’s a huge project for us, because in 2012, yeah, it was 13 years ago, but it’s still fresh in the back of my mind. We had a tornado hit this neighborhood. No one, nobody knew what to do when the power went out. The refrigerators were down. Those that had electric stoves or stoves didn’t work. The freezers were obviously not staying for keeping things frozen. And so what this facility does is its base operations. They actually produce all the lunches at that building. So that’s base camp. If people need food that will operate in perpetuity 24 over seven because of the way that that system is set up. So we’re supporting neighborhood, we’re developing workforce, we’re development projects, we’re developing people, we’re developing community.
John Engel
Yeah. And I I’m glad you got right into the project too, because it is it is unique, just as a project in our industry and how big it is, and its significance. It’s multi-site, there’s orchestration, there’s all these different things at play. But then when you think about how these projects come together, no microgrid is the same. They’re all snowflakes. And you know, how you get that idea to commercial operation is also going to be different every single time. So I can’t wait to pick your brain there because I know there was some gymnastics at play when it came to, you know, setting up all of the different stakeholders. And how do you compensate and how do you pay for this and, you know, risk all that kind of stuff. So, yeah, at the high level, we’re talking about 1450kW of solar, 2000kW of storage across four public school buildings in Minneapolis. You mentioned Otis, role in this, our, our microgrid controller grid mind is involved.
Walk me through this project. Maybe from the early days to where we are now. I know there’s a lot of steps, so maybe we don’t have time for all of it, but I think that stakeholder engagement piece is what fascinates me most about this project. How you get the buy-in from, very different groups with very different, you know, goals.
Jamez Staples
Yeah. So this project predates I mean, it’s like 2018, right. So it goes back to just a application that was submitted in partnership with the University of Minnesota, Energy Transition Lab, Ellen Anderson, who was there leading it, and she asked us if we wanted to, supply apply for this program with Rocky Mountain Institute. So I said sure. And then we were selected and that which was kind of shocking because it was kind of, you know, one of those fire long shots with thousands of applications that get submitted. And we were selected. So we were excited and we spent four days or three days and, and Utah had a resort, Robert Redford’s resort kind of modeling this project. And I’m going to cut kind of short because it can go a long right. But the long story short is, when we first approached, had a conversation with OATI, I was it was just kind of like a challenge was over. It was just like a very after barrier. And then it was like, all right, well, we’re just gonna put this on the shelf, and then we put it on the shelf. Siemens came at us and Siemens was interested in working with us, and then there was some challenges there, and we were like, we’ll just put it back on the shelf and then Xcel, put out an RFP because I served on the EVAC to Innovation Advisory Committee, and they issued an RFP for three sites for kind of this non wires alternative program that they wanted to deploy. And we were actually selected. And so through that process we were selected. And there was funding that was supposed to be allocated by way of the by way of Xcel. They were supposed to build these projects and kind of own them. And then then there was a gap. We didn’t know what to do about the gap. And sometimes that happens. Right. And then before you knew it, there was, funding from the Department of Energy that became available by way of some grant that that Xcel Energy had been awarded by way of the, a great grant from the, from DOE. So that’s kind of how the project came to fruition.
But the big deal is, is that it’s in a low income community. And these types of projects are best, if you ask me, for those communities. Right. Those these communities were where I live. And we’re where we’re we’re building. This project will ultimately help people that can’t pack up and go when the power’s out. Right. It’s interesting because I just watched, it was a terrible situation in terms of Katrina, which was, what, 20 years ago. Right. And how people could not get out because they just couldn’t. The order of evacuation was there, but no one could leave because they don’t have the resources. Obviously, we’re not going to deal with a hurricane here, but ideally, if people we know that something’s going to happen and we know that we’ve at least got power, where at least at least okay in that regard, right? Because what are we without power? Right. We’re back in the stone ages.
John Engel
And I feel you. I mean, even the statement of we’re not going to get a hurricane here. It more true for you, but where I’m at in Asheville, North Carolina, we used to say that, too. And, you know, and then we got creamed by a storm. So, let me look at the date. And one week, it’ll be a year. One of the one of the craziest experiences I’ve obviously ever been through. And, you know, seeing the community impact of that, you start to think about resilience in a different way. And I think we all recognize that reliability and resilience are important and we want it, but they’re really difficult to, put a value on or put a cost on. And, and I know that acutely in trying to pencil out these projects. How did you get there? I mean, you’ve got a bunch of different funding streams and different programs, and you started the project pause the project back on with the project. How nimble did you have to be around? Like, what’s the story that we’re telling here on the value of resilience? And, you know, how did that ultimately play a role in getting this project to where it is?
Jamez Staples
Well, I believe that, you know, the the resilience piece is, is is extremely important, right? I mean, we’ve watched what has happened over this last 5 or 7 years in terms of our temperatures and as most recently as we just we’re just experiencing almost a 90 degree yesterday, right, in Minneapolis and September. Right? I mean, those are June and July temps. Right. Sometimes very seldom. And so resiliency, what we sought to do as a service community. And so the funding tools were obviously positioned by way of Xcel Energy initially. But then we had by way of this grant that we were awarded to the Department of Energy, we had to do a match right. So it’s a $4.8 million award that was given to Xcel, where we are a sub awardee, and now we have to match that. Well, how do we match that as like a small business that’s doing really impactful community work, right? We just don’t have $4.8 million in the bank to go and say, we’re going to do this, right.
We had to think about the tools that were out there to, to be used. And that was one of them was the tax credits for the solar project. Right. And so that’s how we actually utilized, that’s a good portion of our match right there. We end up then we ended up utilizing the Minnesota Clean Energy Finance Innovation Authority, which has funding that, which is the new green bank for the most part in Minnesota. And we were the second awardee of grant funds from that bank to help support this project. And so, we have to go through different processes to get reimbursed by way of the grant. But that’s how we’re funding this project.
And so, ultimately, the end goal end game is that we will sell power to the district that will support the district and save them money, too. So it’s not like we’re just green. We’re just going to say in power at the same price for some sort of at a steep discount, so that the power so that the school district can do exactly what they’re employed to do, and that is to educate children.
John Engel
Yeah. I mean, the mission is clear, but you also have to have the business case with all these projects. It can’t just be, you know, we know where we’re doing good. Unfortunately, because of just, you know, all this stuff gets, paid for and, and we distribute capital. A piece of this conversation I was really looking forward to is that, you know, with these capital intensive infrastructure projects, they often take three or 4 or 5 years to come to fruition. And we have conversations when we’re excited about projects being announced. But then, you know, they go in the background, you don’t see them, you forget about it. You move on to the next one. You guys have been around long enough now to see the cycle play out, to develop a project, to deploy a project, to drive past it down the street. And to then see how it’s received in the community and the impact in the community. What have you seen from the impact of your projects beyond, you know, the obvious decarbonization and resiliency benefits? How do you how do you see that change, really that change or elevate the fabric of the communities you work in?
Jamez Staples
Well, I’ll say this right. Community outreach is essential. I think it’s important that you engage community at a high level, but then also to a granular level so that they even understand what some of the threats, opportunities and strengths and weaknesses are of the grid. Right. And so helping people understand that can help them to mobilize and actually start to push to get funding for these from their cities, be it legislators or however it is that they actually go after these resources. It’s the revenue models are can be challenging as we know, right? I mean, you got to find different ways to cover the cost. But as you know, the energy costs are continuously increasing, right? So if we don’t start to figure this out right now, it’s going to cost a lot more later. And so ideally what we should be doing is we should be making sure that the more people in not just in urban communities, but in rural communities and communities all over the all over, in every in every state are starting to galvanize around this issue of resiliency, because you never know and you can’t necessarily put a dollar value on it.
But when it’s needed, it is priceless.
John Engel
Yeah, and resilience is the new decarbonization, you know, and we’re going at the same challenges here whether we label it as, you know, fighting climate change or improving resilience. I mean, they’re both they’re both in lockstep. What from this community resilience project, have you learned that you’re aiming to replicate or think would benefit others that are in this space? I know they’re all unique, especially microgrid projects. But I think, you know, it’s such a fun one to talk about because of that impact that you, you laid out and it’s schools, it’s the surrounding community. It’s so multifaceted. What do you take away from this one?
Jamez Staples
Again, I mean, community outreach is essential, And amongst team members, that’s going to be that’s a big deal, right? Making sure that because you don’t know what you don’t know when you’re developing these projects. And so making sure that you have proper representation and making sure that everybody’s on the same page and playing on the same on the same wavelength around what the intended plan is, but also what the unintended plans are. And things don’t necessarily go the way that how many, how many of those were there? Plenty. We’ll stop there. We got to stop recording before and before you keep, laying them out. And project sites. Right? I mean, you need you need experienced entities that are kind of willing and more than more than willing to host these hosts, these, assets because, you know, security is an issue. Right? But also, like the idea that unknown, you know, usually unknown people will be coming into the space that you’re setting up for this. Right? And so how do you make sure that the people who you’re working with who initially think, yeah, great, we’ll have power during the outage, but then we have to we have to welcome some people who we traditionally wouldn’t normally welcome in to get cooling, right, to plug in phones, to plug in, you know, to store things.
So those things, I mean, the, the, and the, the payback. Right? I mean, like, the cost of these things are expensive, but at the same time, like we said, it’s very much so worth it when you kind of put, because you can’t put a value on the idea. Think about it like how many people died in some of these, some of these, these situations where they’re where they would people are overheating.
Right? What is the value on somebody’s life or the value of someone, you know, having a traumatic experience because they just didn’t have something as simple as power, right? Yeah. It’s a different situation.
John Engel
Yeah. I mean, it should be a human right. I think we’ve all seen that globally. You know, the data is obvious that access to electricity improves, you know, economic outcomes, it improves public health outcomes, all of that. There’s no debate there. And when you talk about the payback to this is another, you know, kudos to this project is you you’re right. You can’t put a price tag or cost on someone’s life, but you can’t put it on food waste. And food waste is expensive. So, you know, you put microgrid and resilience around a nutritional site.
There is some value there.
Jamez Staples
We did start going down this route of this, food waste issue with some of our local partners and after four hours of no refrigerator refrigeration, they’re required to throw out whatever was in that, whatever was in that freezer, refrigerator and whatnot. And so you think about, like, the idea of being able to help deliver a resource that can save millions and millions of dollars, but also that the fact that these, these, these systems support that. It’s amazing.
John Engel
So it’s getting beyond the, the mission statement and the community impact in a way and getting down to where can we find the dollars, where what can you not stand to lose or what is so expensive if you do lose it? So just great job by you guys and, you know, enjoy continuing to collaborate on whatever you guys have next. Just pick up the phone. But thank you, Jamez Staples. Good luck to you and Renewable Energy Partners. Thanks for chatting with me.