Minnesota’s largest utility agreed to drop plans for a new natural gas plant planned for North Dakota and add thousands of megawatts of new renewable energy and battery storage under a settlement with environmental groups, labor and other parties.
The settlement involving Xcel Energy aims to resolve two cases at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission involving the utility’s long-term plans to meet energy demand and satisfy the state’s climate law requiring 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040.
Xcel will still add a new natural gas plant in Lyon County, Minnesota, under the plan and extend two contracts to purchase gas-fired electricity from plants owned by third parties. But the settlement calls for the utility to add more wind, solar and battery storage than initially proposed.
The plan “invests in innovation that maximizes value for customers, creates jobs, and supports the communities we serve,” Ryan Long, president of Xcel Energy’s operations in Minnesota and the Dakotas, said in a statement.