Xcel Energy Plans To Retire 2 Of 3 Coal-Fired Sherco Units
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Xcel Energy has announced a plan to retire two of the three units at Minnesota's largest power plant, its Sherco facility in Becker.
The Minneapolis-based utility says it's part of a strategy to cut its carbon emissions 60 percent by 2030. Two coal-fired units at Sherco would be retired in 2023 and 2026. Other components of the proposal filed Friday include adding more wind and solar energy resources so that in five years, 28 percent of Xcel's energy mix will be from renewable sources, rising to 35 percent by 2030.
But the plan also calls for continuing to operate Xcel's Monticello and Prairie Island nuclear plants as the backbone of the region's power supply, and developing new natural gas generation in the region, including at Sherco and in North Dakota.
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