Xcel Energy leaders met with local elected officials for their “Community Breakfast.” They gave a summary of the state of the company and of the energy production facilities in the area, including the Sherco plant and the Monticello nuclear plant.

Although there’ve been a lot of questions from the community, Xcel didn’t have a lot of answers at this time about its future of energy production. Xcel does have a goal of being carbon-free by 2050 and is making strides towards that eventuality, but the leaders speaking at the community breakfast seemed willing and eager to consider a host of different technologies to make that goal happen, including new nuclear technologies.

They are looking to extend the Monticello plant for an extra ten years as they’ve had great success with that nuclear plant. Some of the new nuclear technology being developed shows a lot of promise, and despite there being a memorandum on new nuclear facilities, Xcel hopes they will be able to work with legislators if this new tech proves to be a good fit for central Minnesota.

Although Xcel has had backlash about their carbon emissions from environmentalist groups, they pointed out several times in their presentation that they are one of the top carbon-free producers in Minnesota.

The biggest takeaway this reporter had from the meeting was there were more questions than answers regarding Xcel’s future, and only time will tell where the company chooses to go. The full presentation is available at Vimeo.com/612701161.