Clean Grid Alliance Applauds Great River Energy’s Closure of Coal Creek; Addition of Wind and Storage

ST. PAUL, MINN. (May 7, 2020) – Today, Great River Energy announced major changes to their power supply portfolio, including the closure of Coal Creek Station, the largest coal-fired power plant in North Dakota and addition of wind and storage.

As a regional organization that works to advance renewable energy in the Midwest, Clean Grid Alliance Executive Director Beth Soholt responded, saying:

“We applaud Great River Energy’s bold announcement today and their leadership on reducing carbon in Minnesota.  We are thrilled that they are charting a course with clean low-cost renewables like many other utilities across the Midwest and the nation. We extend kudos to CEO and President David Saggau and his team, the GRE board, and co-op members for developing and approving this bold vision.  Clean Grid Alliance looks forward to supporting GRE to help them achieve their goals. 

“The one megawatt long-duration battery with Form Energy is an exciting step forward in advancing GRE’s generation shift and providing the services GRE needs. We look forward to learning from this “first-of-its-kind” deployment in the Midwest.”

According to Lazard Levelized Cost of Energy report, wind and solar are the cheapest sources of new electricity generation in the Midwest. Wind and solar costs have declined dramatically in the past decade, with the cost of wind energy down 70 percent, and solar costs have plunged 88 percent since 2009.

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Clean Grid Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in St. Paul, Minn., that works to advance renewable energy in the Midwest. Its members are comprised of wind, solar and storage developers, environmental organizations, public interest groups, clean energy advocates, farm groups, and businesses providing goods and services to the wind and solar industries. Learn more at cleangridalliance.org.