Coal to Solar in Minnesota

Canary Media:”Minnesota’s biggest solar project will help replace a huge coal plant.” The Sherco coal generator complex is the largest generator in Minnesota, coming in a capacity of 2,238 megawatts [MW], equivalent to about 2 nuclear power plants. While it is one of the ‘largest employers and sources of tax revenue in Sherburne County, [but] also by far the biggest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state. In 2023, utility Xcel closed the 680 MW unit, with planned retirements of the the reaming two in 2026 + 2030. In an adjacent potato field, under contruction is the Sherco solar and energy-storage facility—the ‘largest solar project [710 MW] in the Upper Midwest, and the fifth-largest in the U.S. by the time it’s fully completed in 2026.’ The first phase should begin sending emissions-free electricity to the grid this October. Will be one of the first large-scale projects to use a long-duration iron-air battery from Form Energy, with the ‘solar project and Form battery will make use of the coal plant’s existing grid interconnection.’ “One unit of the retiring coal plant will also house a synchronous condenser to help provide stable and strong electricity from renewable energy.” This whole solar + storage project leverages incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act for the use of union labor and for siting renewable energy projects in so-called energy communities. There were also awards from the U.S. Department of Energy. Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Catalyst fund. “Xcel will be trying out a new class of energy storage in Form’s iron-air battery — one capable of storing 10 megawatts of power for up to 100 hours. That’s enough backup for the grid to ride out a plant shutdown from a weather event such as a polar vortex, and far more than the 4-hour duration of the lithium-ion batteries that now predominate grid storage.” The iron-air batteries will be manufactured by Form in its ‘factory in Weirton, West Virginia, which is currently installing manufacturing equipment, trialing new manufacturing lines, and ramping up its manufacturing workforce.’ This project has me snapping my suspenders with homestate Minnesota pride.