Xcel Energy’s Carbon Free Upper Midwest Plan Receives Approval

MINNEAPOLIS (WJON News) -- Xcel Energy's plan to advance carbon reduction took a step forward this week. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved Xcel's Upper Midwest Energy Plan.

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The plan includes adding 600 megawatts of battery energy storage including a 300-megawatt lithium-ion battery at the Sherco plant site in Becker, adding over 3,400 megawatts of wind energy, and adding 550 megawatts of grid scaled solar energy all by 2030. The plan also will extend the use of Xcel Energy's two carbon-free nuclear plants at Monticello and Praire Island through 2050, and help build a hydrogen-capable natural gas-fired plant in Lyon County.

All the proposed resources are in addition to projects that have already received approval from regulators. Xcel says under the plan carbon emissions will be reduced by over 80% from 2005 levels while meeting the needs of customers on its Upper Midwest electric system which serves Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, and Michigan.

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