Cooperative Energy Futures is a member-owned cooperative that exists to make clean energy accessible to all.

We envision a future where community members own, manage, and use clean energy systems together for the collective benefit of all of us.

Cooperative Energy Futures is transforming who controls, owns and benefits from the type of energy we use. CEF has financed and developed 6.9MW (~$16M) of low-income-accessible community solar gardens that are cooperatively-owned-and-operated across urban, suburban, and rural Minnesota. The energy is credited to the utility bills of over 700 Minnesota households for the next 25 years.

Arial photo of a municipal buildings with large flat roofs covered in solar panels.

Field of solar panels all the way to the horizon, under a blue sky with puffy clouds.

Affordable Solar

Our Affordable Solar Program ensures that low-income households, including renters in subsidized housing, can benefit from on-site solar energy without the burden of upfront costs or loans.

A school group visiting a warehouse stand around a table with a solar panel lying on it.

Community Solar

Our Community Solar Program enables individuals and organizations to benefit from solar energy without installing panels where they live. Members subscribe to a cooperatively-owned solar array with no upfront or out-of-pocket cost.

Living room with a tan leather couch in the foreground.

Sustainable Homes

Our Sustainable Homes program, currently in development, aims to assist households in the Twin Cities in implementing energy-efficient improvements that lead to savings on energy costs and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

The impact of CEF's work is equivalent to...

3 homes lived in

Blue single family home with many white pillars.

47.47 MwH of energy

23,734 gallons of water saved

837 trees planted

Understory of two arching trees, with sunlight glowing through the leaves and branches.

57,474 pounds of carbon saved

3,683 gallons of gasoline saved

...and we're just getting started.