From a company news release issued yesterday,
Xcel Energy to build Upper Midwest’s largest battery storage site:
600 megawatts at Sherco Energy Hub among a series of planned battery, solar projects
Two things you should keep in mind. First, batteries do not produce energy, they merely store energy produced elsewhere for later use. That can be helpful, in applications like flashlights.
Second, the 600 MW project at that exact location is, coincidentally, equivalent to the Amazon diesel backup generator project for their later-abandoned data center proposal.
Sherco is/was the site of one of the region’s largest coal power plant complexes, located near Becker in Sherburne County. At 600 MW, the project is roughly the size of the nearby Monticello nuclear power plant, or Sherco’s now closed coal-fired Unit 2.
Xcel announced that the expanded Sherco battery proposal is part of a larger package, which will,
–Double the amount of battery storage adjacent to the Sherco coal plant in Becker, which is scheduled to retire by the end of 2030. The Commission {PUC] previously approved 300 megawatts of storage. The new proposal increases the capacity to 600 megawatts.
–Add 135.5 megawatts of battery storage at the company’s Blue Lake facility in Shakopee.
–Expand the company’s Sherco Solar facility with an additional 200-megawatt solar array in Clear Lake Township.
The proposal does not address where the power will come from to charge these batteries, or what will back up the expanded solar array when the sun isn’t shining.
Perhaps we could consider diesel generators? Just a thought.
