Minnesota Power outlines 15‑year plan to phase out coal; proposed buyout draws heavy public opposition in Duluth meeting

Minnesota Power told the Duluth City Council on Monday night that it has filed an updated 15‑year integrated resource plan (IRP) that would move the utility to roughly 90% renewable generation by 2035 and eliminate coal from its system, while the company’s pending sale to institutional investors prompted sustained public opposition at the meeting.

The IRP presentation was made by Jennifer Cady, vice president of regulatory and legislative affairs for Minnesota Power, who described the company’s next steps as a mix of renewables, storage, conservation and new natural‑gas capacity to back up intermittent resources. “The cheapest, the cleanest kilowatt hour is the one that we don't have to make,” Cady said in the presentation, emphasizing energy conservation and demand‑response with large industrial customers.

The plan calls for the company to add about 400 megawatts of new wind, roughly 100 megawatts of energy storage and other renewables in addition to the roughly 700 megawatts it proposed in the prior IRP. Cady said Boswell Energy Center’s Unit 3 is scheduled to cease coal operations in 2030 and Minnesota Power proposes to repower that unit to natural gas; Unit 4 is slated to cease coal by 2035 and the company is exploring replacement pathways for it. Cady told the council the proposed portfolio would allow Minnesota Power to reach a roughly 90%…