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(KNSI) – Xcel Energy is preparing to build the largest solar energy project in Minnesota near Becker’s Sherco coal plant.
The $575 million, 460-megawatt Sherco Solar project will be built between 2022 and 2024. Xcel says the new energy-producing operation will supply power to 100,000 Upper Midwest homes every year.
“It will be among the lowest-cost solar energy in the state and will share the existing transmission infrastructure at the Sherco power plant, helping keep bills low for customers,” the company said in a statement.
The solar project comes as Xcel plans to gradually shut down the Sherburne County Generating Station over the next decade and, as a company, reduce emissions by 80 percent by 2030.
Inside Clean Energy: Explaining the Crisis in Texas
This is what happens when the challenges of climate adaptation run into the challenges of the energy transition.
February 18, 2021
Karla Perez and Esperanza Gonzalez stay in their apartment during power outage caused by the winter storm on Feb. 16, 2021 in Houston, Texas. A winter storm has brought historic cold weather, power outages and traffic accidents to Texas. Credit: Go Nakamura/Getty Images
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Even before the frigid weather arrived in Texas last weekend, some people were already saying that the crisis showed the folly of the transition to clean energy sources like wind and solar.
How Does a Utility Turn a Net-Zero Vision into Reality? That’s What They’re Arguing About in Minnesota
Xcel Energy says natural gas must be part of the energy transition. Others say wind, solar and batteries can do the job.
February 17, 2021
Xcel Energy is proposing to stop burning coal at the Sherburne County Generating Station in Becker, Minnesota, and build a new natural gas power plant on the site. Credit: Tony Webster
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In the national debate over the role of natural gas power in the energy transition, some of the key players are digging in for a battle in Minnesota.
With mega-emitters closed, coal’s ‘cleaner fleet’ persists Source: By Benjamin Storrow, E&E News reporter • Posted: Wednesday, December 9, 2020
At first glance, 2020 looks to be another big year for coal retirements. The 9.4 gigawatts of coal capacity shut down this year is the fourth-highest annual total since 2009, federal figures show.
But dig a little deeper, and it becomes apparent that the 36 retirees this year were relatively small emitters. The 385 million tons of carbon dioxide generated between 2010 and 2019 by units retiring this year is the smallest such figure since 2017, according to an E&E News review of federal data.
Total coal emissions will still be down this year. American coal plants were already running less, and the COVID-19 pandemic pushed even more to the sidelines.