Minnesota coal plant’s wires now carry solar power to 150,000 homes
Xcel Energy has repurposed the transmission infrastructure of a retiring coal plant in Minnesota to connect a massive new 710-megawatt solar facility to the grid. By utilizing existing interconnection rights, the project bypassed years of regulatory delays typically associated with new energy infrastructure.
Why it matters
This strategy offers a scalable model for accelerating the transition to renewable energy by overcoming the significant bottleneck of grid interconnection queues.
America is retiring coal plants slowly and steadily. The boilers are cut up for scrap, the smokestacks get dropped on camera and the land tends to sit in permitting limbo for a decade. But in Becker, Minnesota, the state's biggest coal plant is being used, not for all this hardware but for a plug.On July 21, Xcel Energy announced it had completed the third phase of Sherco Solar, pushing the site to 710 megawatts generated by 1.7 million panels. This makes it the largest solar facility in Minnesota and one of the biggest in the Upper Midwest, by the utility's own careful scoping.
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