St. Cloud, Xcel Negotiating New Hydroelectric Dam Contract

ST. CLOUD -- A 35-year contract agreement between the city St. Cloud and Northern States Power Company will be expiring soon. The agreement allows the city to sell the electricity generated by the hydroelectric dam to the power company.

Public Services Director Tracy Hodel says they looked at several different options but ultimately decided to continue to sell the power to Xcel Energy.

That pool upstream of the hydroelectric facility is the water that we use to supply our drinking water treatment facility with the water and it goes into that intake station, so we really wanted to have control. Also, for recreation use be able to maintain that pool level.

Hodel says another issue is that Xcel owns all of the infrastructure at the dam so it made sense to continue that relationship.

Negotiations on a contract extension have been going on since 2018 with the contract set to expire in October of 2021. The ultimate decision on the contract is with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.