Voices Of 100%: A Renewable City Coalition Grows in Western Montana
Originally published at ILSR.org
For this episode of our Voices of 100% series of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell talks with Helena Sustainability Coordinator Patrick Judge and Citizens Conservation Commission Member Mark Juedeman. Judge and Juedeman supported Helena as the city committed to 100% renewable energy. In making its commitment, Helena has joined Missoula and Bozeman, building a commanding coalition in western Montana.
Listen to the full episode and explore more resources below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation.
Episode Transcript
Driven to Sustainability by Identity
Patrick Judge and Mark Juedeman were both drawn to work around sustainability and climate change because of their backgrounds.
Judge, Helena’s Sustainability Coordinator, was born and raised in Helena. His love for natural amenities and professional interest in the physical sciences drive him to make Helena a cleaner, more sustainable place. Moreover, Judge’s experience working on climate change issues allowed him to identify environmental threats to tourism and agriculture.
Clearly… global climate change is the most pressing issue facing us today on the environmental front, and beyond that, with serious threats to Montana’s quality of life: with the wildfires, and public health implications of that, and drought threatening our largest industries of agriculture and tourism. — Patrick Judge
Similarly, Mark Juedeman’s identity as a Montana native and educational background in geology led him to sustainability work and his role on the Citizens Conservation Commission. From being an early solar power adopter in Louisiana to his experience installing wind at his Montana ranch, Jeudeman’s commitment to Helena’s 100% renewable energy transition is evident in his lived experiences.
Creating Lasting Change, Despite Resistance
Together, Juedeman and Judge have helped Helena advance toward its sustainability goals. 30% of the city’s electricity supply already stems from hydro, wind, and solar energy. By 2030, the City of Helena plans to run on 100% clean electricity community-wide.
Helena’s clean electricity resolution was born from a 2009 Climate Change Action Plan, which drew inspiration from over 40 community recommendations on how to transition Helena to clean energy. More importantly, the 100% clean electricity goal was revitalized by a 2017 citizen conservation board led by Juedeman.
These sustainability efforts, however, have been met with major backlash from local and state officials. In the last five years, Helena has struggled within the confines of:
- Reduced tax credits for conservation and renewable energy
- Additional fees on electric vehicles
- Attacks on net metering and a cap of 50 kilowatts on distributed solar
- Preemption bills to limit the imposition of carbon taxes by local governments
With resistance coming down from the top, Helena community members have responded with grassroots organizing to broaden community support. The city is also working on its own energy efficiency and has also opted into a Property Assessed Clean Energy loan program, which provides zero-interest loans for improvements to energy efficiency or the installation of solar.
We face tremendous headwinds from the legislature and the executive branch. And so that’s kind of our motivation for doing everything we can at our city level. — Mark Juedeman
Community solar legislation would help make the transition more equitable, says Juedeman, because there is an affordability crisis in Montana and many cannot afford to own their own home. Since there is no state legislation allowing it, Helena has piloted some projects installing solar on affordable housing complexes.
Warily Partnering with Northwestern Energy
Another challenge to achieving Helena’s renewable energy goals? The regional monopoly utility company: Northwestern Energy. Northwestern Energy has a 220 megawatt coal plant that the company plans to operate until 2042, says Judge, along with plans to build a new 175 megawatt gas plant in the future. It will be difficult for Helena to reach its goals if the utility is serving them with electricity from these generation sources.
On the positive side, Northwestern Energy did hold a 2019 stakeholder convening with leaders from cities including Helena, Missoula, and Bozeman to discuss how the utility can serve their communities, says Judge.
We have had many conversations with the utility and, you know, we’re optimistic that we could make some progress. — Patrick Judge
The group became interested in replicating Utah’s 2019 Community Renewable Energy act. However, Northwestern Energy did not think an opt-out model was feasible in Montana. After the stakeholder input, Northwestern Energy is moving forward with an opt-in green tariff program.
Those communities already represent about a quarter of Northwestern’s Montana customer base, and those communities are also some of the fastest growing in the state… We think that’s a powerful, strong collective voice that the utility has to pay attention to. — Mark Juedeman
Episode Notes
See these resources for more behind the story:
For concrete examples of how towns and cities can take action toward gaining more control over their clean energy future, explore ILSR’s Community Power Toolkit.
Explore local and state policies and programs that help advance clean energy goals across the country, using ILSR’s interactive Community Power Map.
This is the 31st episode of our special Voices of 
series, and episode 137 of Local Energy Rules, an ILSR podcast with Energy Democracy Director John Farrell, which shares powerful stories of successful local renewable energy and exposes the policy and practical barriers to its expansion.
Local Energy Rules is Produced by ILSR’s John Farrell and Maria McCoy. Audio engineering by Drew Birschbach.
This article originally posted at ilsr.org. For timely updates, follow John Farrell on Twitter, our energy work on Facebook, or sign up to get the Energy Democracy weekly update.
Featured Photo Credit: Florida Fish and Wildlife via flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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Credit where credit is due: in a massive, 32-car multinational independent test, Tesla’s Autopilot ADAS came out on top, the new affordable Tesla turns out to be a corner-cutting Model Y, and one of the company’s original founders compares the Cybertruck to a dumpster. All this and more on today’s episode of Quick Charge!
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Tesla is again teasing the new Roadster, which is now five years late, as “the last driver’s car” before self-driving takes over.
The chicken or the egg. Is Tesla delaying the Roadster to match the development of self-driving technology, or is it delaying the development of self-driving technology to match the delayed release of the Roadster?
The prototype for the next-generation Tesla Roadster was first unveiled in 2017, and it was initially scheduled to enter production in 2020; however, it has been delayed every year since then.
It was supposed to achieve a range of 620 miles (1,000 km) and accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds.
It has become a sort of running joke, and there are doubts that it will ever come to market despite Tesla’s promise of dozens of free new Roadsters to Tesla owners who participated in its referral program years ago.
Tesla used the promise of free Roadsters to help generate billions of dollars worth of sales, which Tesla owners delivered; however, the automaker never delivered on its part of the agreement.
Furthermore, many people placed deposits ranging from $50,000 to $250,000 to reserve the vehicle, which was initially scheduled to hit the market five years ago.
When unveiling the vehicle, CEO Elon Musk described it as a “halo car” that would deliver a “smack down” to gasoline vehicles.
That was almost eight years ago, and many electric hypercars have since launched and delivered this smackdown.
Tesla has partly blamed the delays on improving the next-gen Roadsters and added features like the “SpaceX package,” which is supposed to include cold air thrusters to enable the vehicle to fly – Musk has hinted.
Many people don’t believe any of it, as Tesla has said that it would launch the new Roadster every year for the last 5 years and never did.
Now, Lars Moravy, Tesla’s head of vehicle engineering, made a rare new comment about the next-generation Roadster during an interview at the X Takeover event, an annual gathering of Elon Musk cultists, last weekend.
He referred to Tesla’s next-gen Roadster as the “last best driver’s car” and said that the automaker did “some cool demos” for Musk last week:
We spent a lot of time in the last few years rethinking what we did, and why we did it, and what would make an awesome and exciting last best driver’s car. We’ve been making it better and better, and it is even a little bit more than a car. We showed Elon some cool demos last week and tech we’ve been working on, and he got a little excited.
The timing matches Musk’s recent claim that Tesla is going to have ‘the most epic demo ever, ’ but we heard that one before.
We suspected that the comment might be about the Tesla Roadster, as the CEO made the exact same comment about Roadster demos in 2019 and 2024. You will not be shocked to hear that these demos never happen.
Electrek’s Take
The “last best driver’s car” before computers are going to drive us everywhere. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy if you continue to delay the car. It might literally be the last car ever made that way. How would we ever know?
The truth is that the Roadster was cool when it was unveiled in 2017, but that was a long time ago. Tesla would need to update the car quite a bit to make it cool in 2025, and I don’t know that cold air clusters are it. You will have extreme limitations using those.
The Roadster is almost entirely in the “put up or shut up” category for me at Tesla. They need to stop talking about it and make it happen; otherwise, I can’t believe a word.
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The PV5 is already available in several markets, but will Kia launch it in the US? After Kia’s electric van was spotted testing in the US again, a US debut could be in the works.
Is Kia’s electric van coming to the US?
Kia launched the PV5, the first dedicated electric van from its new Platform Beyond vehicle (PBV) business, in South Korea and Europe earlier this year, promising it will roll out in “other global markets” in 2026.
Will that include the US? Earlier this year, Kia’s electric van was caught charging at a station in Indiana. Photos and a video sent to Electrek by Alex Nguyen confirmed it was, in fact, the PV5.
Kia has yet to say if it will sell the PV5 in the US, likely due to the Trump Administration’s new auto tariffs. All electric vans, or PBVs, including the PV5, will be built at Kia’s Hwaseong plant in South Korea, which means they will face a stiff 25% tariff as imports.
Following another sighting, a US debut cannot be ruled out. The PV5 Passenger model was spotted by Automotive Validation Engineer Chris Higa (@Chrisediting) while testing in Arizona.
There’s no denying that’s Kia’s electric van, but it doesn’t necessarily confirm it will launch in the US. But it could make sense.
Despite record first-half sales in the US, Kia’s EV sales have fallen significantly. Sales of the EV9 and EV6 are nearly 50% less than in the first half of 2024.
To be fair, part of it is due to the new model year changeover, but Kia is also doubling down on the US market by boosting local production. Earlier this year, Kia said the EV6 and EV9 are now in full-scale production at its West Point, GA, facility.
The PV5 Passenger (shown above) is available in Europe with two battery pack options: 51.5 kWh or 71.2 kWh, rated with WLTP ranges of 179 miles and 249 miles, respectively. The Cargo variant has the same battery options but offers a WLTP range of either 181 miles or 247 miles.
During its PV5 Tech Day event last week, Kia revealed plans for seven PV5 body types, including an Open Bed (similar to a pickup), a Light Camper, and even a luxury “Prime” passenger model.
Kia is set to begin deliveries of the PV5 Passenger and Cargo Long variants in South Korea next month, followed by Europe and other global markets, starting in Q4 2025. As for a US launch, we will have to wait for the official word from Kia.
Do you want Kia to bring its electric van to the US? Drop us a comment below and let us know your thoughts.
Source: Chris Higa, TheKoreanCarBlog
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