Dive Insight:

• The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has signed off on Minnesota Power's road map on how it will provide electricity to its customers over the next several years.
• The utility plans to add wind, hydroelectric and natural gas generation, including the delivery of 250 megawatts (MW) from Manitoba Hydro via the proposed 500-kilovolt Great Northern Transmission Line.
• Minnesota Power would still burn coal, but less of it as it seeks to reduce coal generation by 185 MW by converting one coal plant to natural gas and retiring another.

Dive Insight: 

Environmental groups are unhappy that Minnesota Power is not planning to take more steps to reduce the use of coal-fired generation, even though the utility is planning a $350 million retrofit to a major coal plant to cut mercury emissions by 90%.