Minnesota’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) met with members of Xcel Energy Thursday to review the power company’s resource plan.

 

The resource plan included the procedure to shut down Units 1 & 2 at the Sherco Power Plant in Becker by 2026 and construct a 786 megawatt natural gas-powered unit to counterbalance the shutdown.

 

The PUC voted Thursday to approve the shutdowns, but nixed the idea for the gas plant — for now.

 

Many feel the reason the PUC was not ready to approve the building of the natural gas plant in Becker is because of the pressure from environmentalists who would rather see the energy company focus on wind and solar energy and exclude the idea of using more fossil fuel alternatives.

 

Becker City Administrator Greg Pruszinske and Council Member Rick Hendrickson were in attendance Thursday and issued responses to the ruling. Rep. Jim Newberger had a staffer at the meeting and issued a statement.

 

“The decision not to commit to a natural gas unit at the Sherco plant in Becker will mean ongoing uncertainty for the plant’s workers and local community for the foreseeable future,” Newberger said.

 

Hendrickson agreed. “Had they come out and said 786 megawatts of power at Sherco, that would have put a lot of people’s nerves at rest.” 

 

Xcel is a major employer and taxpayer in Becker and Sherburne County. Sherco’s 310 employees would decline to between 150 and 160 after the two coal generators are replaced with the natural gas plant.

 

“We really wanted the gas plant to be included in the resource plan and approved by the PUC, but that failed to happen” said Pruszinske. “Moving forward, we still plan to keep investigating the plan to do so and reduce the negative impact to the jobs here in Becker.

 

Pruszinske seemed assured that, even though the commission scuttled the idea for now, the natural gas plant coming to Becker is inevitable.

 

“We support Xcel Energy’s plan to build the plant and have been great partners with them throughout the years,” he said. “We are confident that by the time the two units are decommissioned, we will have a natural gas plant running in Becker.”

 

John Tuma, a Republican PUC commissioner,  agreed.

 

“In the end, we will have a Sherco combined cycle plant, built by Xcel,” he said. “We all know that’s what it’s going to be.”

 

Pruszinske said though the idea of focusing on wind and solar are good ideas, those energy sources cannot produce the baseload power needed to keep Xcel’s customers energized.

 

“Natural gas (and coal) have the ability to run 24/7,” he said. “Wind and solar lack the reliability of coal and gas.”

 

Even though the preferred course of action for Becker and Xcel Energy was to define in the resource plan a 786 MW combined cycle gas plant in Becker, Thursday's decision does not preclude that from happening.

 

“We (stakeholders) begin the process of deciding what to do to fill the void left by the decommission of Units 1 & 2,” said Pruszinske. “ Early indicators are positive that the next steps will demonstrate a gas plant in Becker is in the best interest of the rate payers and it will get built at the Sherco site.”