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ST. PAUL, MINN. (Oct. 9, 2020) -- Today, Clean Grid Alliance
(CGA) presented a Leadership and Innovation Award by a Cooperative
Electric Utility to Great River Energy during its “Delivering a
Renewable Energy Future” breakfast event.
“Over the past decade, CGA has been fortunate to work
closely with Great River Energy and witness the track record of success
that the GRE leadership team and company have achieved including clean
energy and carbon reduction, adopting renewables, electrification, leading
on building new transmission through the CapX2020 initiative, working on
long-duration energy storage, service to members, and fiscal excellence,”
said CGA Executive Director Beth Soholt. “As a cooperative utility that is
member owned, at the end of the day, GRE must meet member expectations
while being fiscally prudent for those who pay the bills.”
“We are proud of our accomplishments to develop carbon-free
energy and the transmission necessary to bring more renewables to market,”
said GRE President David Saggau. “Great River Energy has spent nearly 20
years adding renewable energy into our power supply portfolio – and we have
a plan to serve our members with energy that is nearly carbon-free by
2023. Our job is to deliver what our members want. In a survey
earlier this year, we learned that 89% of members believed moving toward
more renewable energy is a good idea.”
In May, GRE announced the addition of 1,100 megawatts of
renewable energy and the shuttering of its flagship Coal Creek Station
plant. In addition, GRE is working on a 1 megawatt grid-connected storage
system capable of delivering 150 hours of power to assure the reliable
delivery of energy to customers. GRE is on track to reduce direct
carbon emissions 95 percent by 2023. Today, GRE continues to
transition its generation portfolio, add wind energy, rely more heavily on
MISO market purchases and again lead on the next tranche of transmission in
MISO West through the CapX2020 initiative. Great River Energy has committed
to reaching 50% renewable energy by 2030 and is at 25% renewable this year.
“We believe that with GRE’s superior leadership team,
forward-looking members and smart strategy, much more is possible. We look
forward to their continued leadership and innovation and applaud their past
decade of achievement,” said Soholt.
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Clean Grid Alliance (CGA) is a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization based in St. Paul, Minn., whose mission is to
advance renewable energy in the Midwest. Launched in 2001 as Wind on the
Wires, Clean Grid Alliance was rebranded in 2018 to better reflect the
growth of the renewable energy industry and its members who are working in
wind, solar and storage. CGA has been an active stakeholder in the MISO
process for the past 19 years, working at both the state and regional
levels. CGA is unique in its membership which includes industry
representatives as well as environmental nonprofit organizations, public
interest groups, clean energy advocates, farm groups, and businesses
providing goods and services to the wind, solar and storage industries who
all come together to reduce carbon and deliver a renewable energy future.
Learn more at cleangridalliance.org.
Great River Energy (GRE) is a 28-member
cooperative that serves approximately 1.7 million people across two-thirds
of the state of Minnesota, and as such, is one of the largest generation
and transmission cooperatives in the nation, and the second largest power
supplier in Minnesota.
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