REGIONAL— Northeastern Minnesota’s largest private utility has announced its plan to deliver 100-percent, carbon-free electricity within just 30 years, as part of its EnergyForward strategy. Minnesota Power, an ALLETE company, outlined its commitment to clean energy in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The company announced last month that it had reached the 50-percent renewable mark, the first major Minnesota utility to reach that milestone. The company now plans to submit a new Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission on Feb. 1, and that plan will lay out the next steps in the company’s transition to a carbon-free future. That plan includes reaching 70-percent renewable power by 2030, and completely phasing out coal as a means of energy production by 2035.
By 2050, just 29 years from now, the company plans to be generating its electric power from entirely carbon-free methods.
“We are proud to be the first Minnesota utility to provide 50-percent renewable energy, but as we said when we reached this exciting milestone, our transformation to a sustainable energy future is not yet complete,” said ALLETE President and CEO Bethany Owen in a statement. “As a clean energy leader, we are meeting the challenge of climate change with a reliable energy supply while keeping costs affordable for customers in this region.”
The company plans to meet its lofty goals by taking a number of steps, including:
• Adding an estimated 400 additional megawatts of wind and solar power.
• Retiring Boswell Energy Center’s Unit 3 by 2030.
• Transforming Boswell’s Unit 4 to be coal-free by 2035.
• Investing in a modern, flexible transmission and distribution grid.
Minnesota Power’s plan, if approved and implemented as envisioned, will continue to place the company far out in front of the state of Minnesota’s mandates for carbon emission reductions. Company officials acknowledge that their plan assumes technological advances over the next three decades that will assist in their efforts to generate more power from renewable sources and make more efficient use of the power it does generate.
When the IRP is submitted, the Public Utilities Commission will begin a regulatory process that provides for input from customers, organizations and communities. Minnesota Power spent the past 12 months in discussions with stakeholders that helped inform the details of its IRP, including the goal of delivering 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2050.
A final decision on the IRP is expected later this year.