Rainbow Energy Center told the Legislative Interim Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Oct. 29 that it had a multi‑pronged plan to keep Coal Creek Station operating and to use the plant as an anchor for an industrial energy park.

Jessica Bell, a representative of Rainbow Energy Center, said the 1,200‑megawatt Coal Creek coal‑fired plant and the nearby Falkirk Mine support more than 600 jobs and that the site’s owners had pursued a business model built around selling power into regional markets via the Nexus high‑voltage direct‑current line into the Minneapolis area. “Being an independent power producer also allows us to be privately owned and held,” Bell said, and she framed Coal Creek’s market access as a core asset for future development.

The presentation detailed several on‑site partners and revenue streams the company is developing. Blue Flint ethanol uses excess steam and stores CO2 in local pore space; Eco Materials markets fly ash for concrete markets; and Rainbow hosts interruptible data‑mining (crypto) and larger interruptible customers that can be shut down when regional market conditions require the plant to export power. Bell said the company is selling all of its power on the Nexus line, which allows the plant to operate “behind the meter” and manage dispatch to maximize revenue.

Carbon management and capture were central to the presentation. Bell said Rainbow has invested “over $70,000,000” in carbon‑capture efforts and has received U.S. Department of Energy support for 3‑D seismic work and a baseline well to assess CO2 storage zones. She urged policymakers to recognize the interaction of project costs and tax incentives, noting that “the inflationary factor was not put on 45Q” (the federal CO2 tax credit) in the same way it was applied to other credits.

Bell described plans to expand the site into a broader energy park with potential new natural‑gas generation (she cited a planning target of roughly 2.1 gigawatts of gas generation to serve data centers behind the meter), additional transmission and a possible Nexus upgrade to carry more megawatts. She also discussed work to process bottom ash for sale to the concrete market, noting the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality had recently received primacy from EPA for CCR handling and that a loan through the Clean Sustainable Energy Authority supported the ash‑processing project.

Committee members pressed Bell on several points, including whether the Coal Creek ash streams could yield critical minerals. Bell said pilot studies and pre‑commercial work were under way and that some extraction pathways required further pilot testing. Lawmakers also asked about the “behind‑the‑meter” model and how large loads such as AI data centers would be integrated. Bell said interruptible customers currently operate on a price‑responsive basis; new AI and data center loads would require firm, high‑reliability arrangements and different contractual and technical solutions.

Why it matters: Rainbow’s effort is an example of a coal‑plant owner pursuing diversified revenue streams—data loads, ash sales, carbon capture and site‑adjacent industrial customers—to preserve plant operations in a challenging market. The plant’s export link to Minneapolis and its on‑site partners give it options that many coal facilities do not have, but projects such as CO2 capture and large data‑center hookups require major capital and regulatory coordination.

Provenance: Committee briefing at Coal Creek Station, Oct. 29, 2025; presentation and question‑and‑answer exchanges with Jessica Bell (start: 00:09:10; finish: 01:00:14).