U.S. Senator Tina Smith Visits Sherco Generating Plant Ahead of Solar Changeover

(KNSI) — U.S. Senator Tina Smith was at the Sherco Power Plant in Becker Monday to learn about a multi-million dollar project to create the state’s largest solar energy plant.

The Sherco plant is currently a coal-fired plant and is slated for shutdown, but Senator Smith tells KNSI the jobs will not be disappearing with it as “this is going to mean hundreds of construction jobs over the next several years. But then, beyond that, the construction jobs to bring clean power intointo this facility from southwestern Minnesota will continue work here at this plant for many, many years to come. And ultimately, when this plant is decommissioned, as [Xcel Energy president] Chris [Clark] was saying, it’ll mean many, many jobs decommissioning it, but this plant will be here for a long, long time. And the most important thing that we accomplished, I think, for Becker, in this bill, is an add on so that there is support for creating those jobs in communities like Becker that have been so integral to powering Minnesota for the last many decades.”

The bill Senator Smith is referring to is the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law last week.

Clark says, “we’re very excited and committed to central Minnesota; they’ve been a great host community for us. We’ve had a wonderful presence here as far as employment and bringing into trades to do work in our plant. And we’re excited to turn this into the state’s biggest solar installation, one of the biggest in the country, and to continue being an important energy presence in the system. Not only that, we’ve worked with Becker very closely to have a vibrant and successful industrial park here that will also create additional jobs.”

The project would create 900 construction jobs and power 100,000 homes and is part of Xcel Energy’s plan to transition to 100 percent clean energy by 2050.

As part of the bill, there is a provision that allows the transferability of tax credits to help keep the energy produced at Sherco affordable. Clark says he estimates it will save ratepayers about 20%. He says there are additional benefits to locating the facility at a retiring fossil fuel plant. “The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has approved our resource plans that call for us to change our energy mix. So that will be over 80% carbon-free by 2030. This helps us do it very cost-effectively and have a very diverse, very solid, reliable supply of energy for our customers.”

The investment, Clark estimates, will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

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KNSI News Reporter Jake Judd contributed to this story.

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