Minnesota Company Closing Huge North Dakota Power Plant

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The company that operates the largest coal-fired power plant in North Dakota announced Thursday it will close the factory and replace most of its energy with new wind farms in Minnesota.

Maple Grove, Minnesota-based Great River Energy said its Coal Creek Station near Underwood in west-central North Dakota will be shuttered in the second half of 2022. The plant that has operated for more than 40 years employs 260 workers.

Great River supplies electricity to 28 rural Minnesota cooperatives, serving about 1.7 million people. The 1,150-megawatt plant will be replaced by a similar amount of wind energy by the end of 2023, after a $1.2 billion investment, the company said.

Great River CEO David Saggau said the decision approved by the company’s board Thursday morning was driven by economics. Company officials said the “portfolio changes” will mean its power will be 95% free of carbon dioxide blamed for global warming.

The company also announced it would convert its Spiritwood Station plant near Jamestown from lignite coal to natural gas.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum called the closure of the Coal Creek Station disappointing but said his administration is determined to “find a path forward for it” and keep it “on the grid.”

North Dakota has seven coal-fueled electric power plants and a factory that produces synthetic natural gas from lignite coal. The state’s lignite mines in west-central North Dakota produce close to 30 million tons of fuel annually. North Dakota’s vast lignite reserves are second only to Australia’s.