On June 11, 2020, Minnesota Power, the state’s second largest investor-owned utility, energized its 224-mile, 500 kV transmission line, Great Northern Transmission Line (GNTL), that will bring the utility to 50% renewable energy in 2021.[1] The GNTL brings 250 MW of hydropower from Manitoba, Canada to Northern Minnesota and was completed in February 2020. With the GNTL energized and connected to Manitoba Hydro’s Manitoba Minnesota Transmission Project, the utilities now have a unique “mechanism that quickly balances energy supply and demand in Minnesota and Manitoba" which enables the utilities to use wind power more effectively. The utility first filed permits for the project in 2014. This is a big shift for Minnesota Power which generated most of its power from coal in the early 2000s.[2] Now, the only coal units in the utility’s portfolio are Boswell Energy Center’s 355 MW and 585 MW units 3 and 4, respectively.

[1]https://minnesotapower.blob.core.windows.net/content/Content/Documents/Company/PressReleases/2020/20200611_NewsRelease.pdf

[2] https://www.mnpower.com/Company/Generation