Xcel Energy’s Upper Midwest Energy Plan outlines how we’ll aggressively reduce carbon emissions, on our way to achieving our vision to provide all customers with 100% carbon-free electricity by 2050.
In February 2022, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved our plan, which will lead to a more than 85% reduction in carbon emissions from the electricity we provide to customers by 2030, compared to 2005. The approval follows several years of work with stakeholders to ensure that we continue to lead the clean energy transition while ensuring reliability and keeping bills low for customers. Xcel Energy’s Upper Midwest system serves customers in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
The approved plan means more than 80% of customers’ electricity will be carbon free by the end of the decade, with more than half coming from wind and solar. The elements of this plan all work together to achieve these aggressive clean energy targets while protecting reliability and affordability for customers.
Key elements of the plan include:
Some elements of the approved plan will require further PUC approvals in the coming months and years. As the company transitions away from coal, it will also work with stakeholders to seek approval for additional “always available” power sources later this decade, to help back up wind and solar and maintain grid stability and reliability.
As a related step, on Sept. 1, 2021, we filed a Certificate of Need with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission seeking regulatory approval to extend the use of the Monticello nuclear plant until at least 2040, as we continue to transition to a carbon-free future.
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