St. Cloud, Minn. (KNSI) – The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved Xcel Energy’s proposed solar expansion at the Sherco Plant in Becker on Thursday.
The vote was unanimous and is expected to allow 710 megawatts on the site, which includes the 460-megawatt array already under construction and an expansion with 250 megawatts of capacity.
All phases of the work should be complete by the end of 2025.
The solar plant will be one of the largest in the country when it is done and, according to Xcel Energy, will be a key part of tripling its solar energy production in the Midwest.
The Sherco plant will be able to power 150,000 homes each year.
Xcel Energy has now committed $1 billion to the site and it is also preparing to build a transmission cable from the wind farms in southwestern Minnesota to a hub located at the soon-to-be-closing coal-fired plant.
The generator stations will be shut down by the end of the decade as part of Xcel’s goal to dramatically reduce its carbon emissions by 2040.
The new solar plant and other infrastructure are an attempt to offset the lost capacity when the Sherco closure happens.
The changes, however, come with a hefty price tag for Xcel Energy customers.
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved $306 million in rate increases over the next three years, which less than half of what Xcel Energy had originally requested — $677 million.
