US electricity utility Xcel Energy has retired one of three coal generation units at its Sherco project site in Minnesota, where it is also building 710MW worth of solar PV capacity to replace the retiring coal projects.
The remaining two coal-fired units at Sherco are scheduled to be retired in 2026 and 2030 respectively, and the initial 460MW of solar PV is currently under construction to replace the recently-retired coal unit. An additional 250MW solar project is awaiting site approval after the initial plans were approved by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) last September.
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Xcel has also said that it will install a 10MW, 100-hour duration battery energy storage system (BESS) at the Sherco site as a demonstration project developed by Massachusetts-based Form Energy. A 100-hour duration BESS would be a cutting-edge installation if the project reaches operations, and has the potential to allow the reliable delivery of renewable energy even through multiple days of low solar production.
Form Energy signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with another US utility – the Washington-based Puget Sound Energy (PSE) – to develop a 10MW/100 hour iron-air pilot battery storage project, which could be deployed by 2026. Our sister site, Energy-Storage.news, has covered this and other long duration projects in more detail.
Sherco will also play host to the proposed Minnesota Energy Connection transmission line, which Xcel said would add at least 2GW of solar and wind capacity to the Minnesota grid. The proposed line would use the existing grid connections at the Sherco site.
“We see tremendous potential for the [Sherco] plant site in the Upper Midwest’s energy future,” said Ryan Long, president of Xcel Energy—Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota. “Just as we’re taking a phased approach to decommissioning the coal units, we’re building replacement generation in phases to support clean, reliable and affordable energy for our customers.”
The utility has committed to operating entirely on renewable energy by 2040. It announced a request for proposals (RFP) for solar and storage projects in August 2023 to replace capacity at another of its coal plants in Minnesota. The Allen S. King project, first commissioned in 1958, will be replaced by a planned 650MW of solar PV capacity.