Over 100 local residents converged last Saturday on Becker High School for the Save Our Sherco (SOS) rally, which included a quick campaign stop by gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen.
State Rep. Shane Mekeland and State Sen. Andrew Mathews sponsored the rally, which included a presentation by noted energy expert Isaac Orr, a policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment.
Mathews started the rally with a brief history of the Sherco issue, which included a bipartisan authorization of a new natural gas fired power plant that was signed into law in 2017 by then Governor Mark Dayton. By last year, however, Mathews noted that Xcel Energy had changed their plans and put forth one that was entirely dependent on solar energy for the Sherco site.
Mekeland spoke next, explaining that the rally was about an affordable and reliable energy grid but also included a financial aspect, as the power plant currently provides about 75% of the City of Becker tax base, 25% of the school’s and 15% for Sherburne County.
Becker Council Member Rick Hendrickson then addressed the crowd, as did several candidates for office for Sherburne County Commissioner and Becker school board. Each talked about the impacts that the local economy will feel as a result of the change in plans for the three Sherco plants before the microphone was passed to Orr for his presentation.
Orr electrified the crown with a litany of statistics he said were meant to give the people in attendance the “tools to talk to other people about this issue.”
Orr, who grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, talked about the difficulties in educating people about the ramifications of what will happen in Minnesota if the state were to experience the same energy shortfalls that have plagued other parts of the country.
“There’s too many people who think that milk comes from the store and electricity comes from the outlet,” Orr said.
Since 2007, Minnesota’s energy costs have dramatically outpaced the national average and the reliability of the energy grid has also come into question, with MISO, the electrical grid operator for MN and 12 other states, predicting a current capacity shortage of 1,200 megawatts. By 2023, the deficit is expected to more than double to 2,600 megawatts and then grow to an incredible 10,900 megawatt shortage by 2027.
“We are repeating California’s mistakes and then hoping for a different result,” Orr noted, citing rolling blackouts and failing grid systems in America’s west before warning of much worse consequences if the same happened in Minnesota. “It’s going to be way worse here if the same thing happens because we all need electricity for our heat in the winter.”
Orr next addressed what he called the common misconception that it is too late to save Sherco, citing coal plants in Wisconsin and Missouri that have recently postponed decommissioning because of fears of a lack of power in the grid.
“All Xcel has to do is approach the PUC (Public Utilities Commission) with the reliability concerns and the commission would most likely approve keeping the plant online,” Orr said. “We need to pump the brakes on this closure.”
Orr discussed Xcel’s unique stature as a government regulated monopoly and reiterated that they are not a private company. In fact, Xcel’s corporate profits are generated from a cost of service formula that allows them to charge enough money to pay for the electrical production, plus a 10% bonus profit on any new power generation infrastructure.
“That gives Xcel a powerful financial incentive to build as much new renewable energy as possible whether they need it or not,” Orr said, noting that the Sherco plants have several decades of serviceability left in them. “As Xcel’s percentage of renewable energy production goes up, so does the percentage of their profits.”
Shifting his focus to solar energy, Orr explained that the panels produce about 17 to 18 percent of their potential output factor, whereas nuclear energy hits over 97 percent in terms of its output factor. Coal, at a minimum, provides more than three times as much output and much more than that when it operates at peak efficiency, whereas wind power is much less.
As proof to his example, Orr cited a time in recent history when Sherco was producing more energy than all of the wind production in Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota and Wisconsin combined.
Subsidies were also discussed, with Orr speaking about the $50,000 per acre Federal subsidy that solar farms are given in their first year in existence. When factoring in this large amount of government assistance, solar and wind energy are not cheaper alternatives to fossil fuels according to Orr.
It was pointed out that nuclear energy is carbon free and should at least be in the discussion when it comes to an “all of the above” energy policy.
When it comes to pollution, Orr explained that worldwide, a couple of coal plants are opened and brought online every week of the year. This caused Orr to opine that Minnesota’s small reduction in carbon emissions are getting “swamped” by the actions of the coal plants being operated across the developing countries on Earth.
Another topic covered by Orr was the idea of taking renewable energy, such as solar, and having the energy “stored” in huge batteries for times when the sun is not shining. Orr said that by 2030, there would be enough battery storage capacity on the entire planet Earth to power Minnesota for just 3 days.
Just as Orr finished his presentation, Dr. Scott Jensen stopped by for a quick visit on his way in-between campaign stops.
Jensen hammered home the point that Minnesota needs to lift the nuclear moratorium, even noting that in 2009, Tim Walz had advocated loudly for removing it and having the discussion about the future of nuclear energy. He also said it was not too late to save Sherco, and outlined what energy policy would look like in January should he be elected.
“It’s irresponsible to think we can shut down Sherco and still expect the same performance from our electrical grid,” Jensen said. “We need to stand up for Sherco now in the same way that we need to stand up for our energy independence.”
Jensen then left the auditorium to a raucous standing ovation, while Orr, Mekeland and Mathews spent the next 30 minutes in a question and answer session with the audience.
In the end, the audience was encouraged to make sure they have signed the petition at saveoursherco.com and to get their neighbors to do the same thing.