Minnesota Electric Cooperatives and Out-of-State Coal Plants

Minnesota's electric cooperatives, serving 30% of the state's customers, remain tied to coal-fired power plants in North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming through Generation & Transmission (G&T) co-ops. While investor-owned utilities in Minnesota are phasing out coal, these co-ops face 'all-requirements' contracts and long-term fuel agreements that restrict their ability to adopt renewables. Many of these out-of-state plants operate uneconomically, costing customers over $93 million between 2015 and 2017.

• Electric cooperatives serve approximately 30 percent of Minnesota's electricity consumers and cover 85 percent of the state's land area, but they are often tied to coal plants located in North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming through Generation & Transmission (G&T) co-ops.
• Four G&T co-ops—Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Dairyland Power Cooperative, Great River Energy, and Minnkota Power Cooperative—own coal-fired plants outside Minnesota with a combined generating capacity of just over 5,000 MW.
• Many coal plants owned by G&T co-ops operate uneconomically, running when it would be cheaper to buy power from the market, which cost co-op consumers more than $93 million from 2015 to 2017.
• Long-term coal fuel contracts, some extending as far as 2071, create financial liabilities and are used by plant owners to justify year-round operation to avoid liquidated damages.
• Distribution co-ops face significant contractual barriers to decarbonization, specifically 'all-requirements' provisions that limit their ability to build their own renewable resources or purchase clean energy from other suppliers.
• While Minnesota's investor-owned utilities like Xcel Energy plan to retire all Minnesota coal plants by 2030, G&T co-ops generally have no plans to retire their out-of-state coal assets, with the exception of Dairyland's Genoa plant slated for 2021 retirement.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2020). Minnesota Electric Cooperatives and Out-of-State Coal Plants. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-02/UCS%20Issue%20Brief%20-%20Minnesota%20Electric%20Cooperatives%20and%20Out-of-State%20Coal%20Plants.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Minnesota Electric Cooperatives and Out-of-State Coal Plants. 2020. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-02/UCS%20Issue%20Brief%20-%20Minnesota%20Electric%20Cooperatives%20and%20Out-of-State%20Coal%20Plants.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Minnesota Electric Cooperatives and Out-of-State Coal Plants |date=February 2020 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-02/UCS%20Issue%20Brief%20-%20Minnesota%20Electric%20Cooperatives%20and%20Out-of-State%20Coal%20Plants.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2020minnesota, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Minnesota Electric Cooperatives and Out-of-State Coal Plants}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2020}, month = feb, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-02/UCS%20Issue%20Brief%20-%20Minnesota%20Electric%20Cooperatives%20and%20Out-of-State%20Coal%20Plants.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }