MANY MINDEDMinnesota's biggest coal plant is becoming a solar and storage hub
The Sherco coal plant in Sherburne County, Minnesota, once the state's largest generator at 2.2 gigawatts, is being converted into the Sherco Energy Hub. Xcel Energy has already retired Unit 2, with Unit 1 to follow and Unit 3 scheduled to shut in 2030. The plant dates to the 1970s and 1980s; Unit 3 failed catastrophically in 2011 and cost $200 million to return to service in 2013.
The replacement is well underway. Three phases of a new solar array totaling 710 megawatts are fully complete, and a proposed fourth phase would raise it to 910 megawatts by 2029, enough for more than 190,000 homes. Two lithium-ion battery systems totaling up to 600 megawatts are in the pre-construction approval stage, and the Minnesota Energy Connection transmission line will carry up to 4,000 megawatts of renewables.
The abundance case is direct: retiring fossil capacity and reusing the grid connection for clean firm power lowers the emissions and long-run cost of electricity. Nationally, EIA data through May 2026 showed renewable generation up 10.1 percent year over year while coal capacity fell 10.9 percent.
What to watch: the batteries still need approval before construction. A Form Energy iron-air storage project lost $70 million in federal funding when the Trump administration cancelled it last fall, and its future now depends on whether Xcel proceeds without that support. Google has separately engaged Form Energy for a 300-megawatt iron-air facility in the state.
Source: CleanTechnica