DEED Grants $1.4 Million to Three Local Communities to Help With Economic Fallout From Generating Plant Closures

(KNSI) – The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development awarded more than a million dollars to three local communities to help with the economic fallout from closing local electric generating plants.

DEED’s Community Energy Transition Grants cover up to 100%, or $500,000, of the costs to improve the economic outlook in these hard-hit communities.

DEED awarded the city of Becker $455,000 for sewer and water infrastructure improvement designs, the Becker Business Park, and to mitigate the effects of the Sherco Power Plant closure. Sherburne County, which is where Becker is located, is also getting a grant totaling $500,000 to conduct an environmental assessment and preliminary design activities for a new interchange that will improve access to the Becker Business Park and mitigate the effects of the Sherco Power Plant closure.

Xcel Energy says it will retire all three of its coal-fired plants by 2030.

The city of Monticello is being awarded $500,000 in funding to “complete a strategic analysis and associated planning tasks to mitigate the effects of the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant closure.”

As Xcel Energy readies for the closure of its coal-fired plants by 2030, a supplemental filing for its Midwest Energy Plan asked the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to keep the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant in operation until 2040.

According to a press release from DEED, the Community Energy Transition Grants Program awarded the funding, which will “provide a range of economic assistance for eligible communities, including projects that increase a community’s lost property tax base and that create alternative economic development strategies to plan for financial challenges and to attract new employers to the community.”