Minnesota Energy Industry News

  Teachers turn students today and, as it turns out, learn a little something along the way. The Antelope Valley Station has cranked out electricity since the 1980s, and in the process, educated thousands about how everything works.  Today, teachers from …

Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Xcel Energy wants to invest some $1.8 billion extending the lives and boost the power generation capacity of a pair of nuclear reactors, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The utility holding company, which serves …

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced funding for rural electric projects in 16 states to provide electric power for rural residents. Since 2011, rural electric cooperatives have used USDA funding to invest nearly $560 million in smart grid …

EVELETH, Jun 18, 2013 (Duluth News Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Minnesota lawmakers who make up the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board on Monday gave their blessing to a plan to restructure a $9.15 million …

Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) is planning $1.8 billion in investments in two nuclear reactors that will extend the lives of the facilities as well as boost power output, according to a report from the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The company will spend $280 …

What happens when you put a lesson into action? It means you're practicing what you preach. That's what's happened at Jefferson Elementary School in Winona. With the help of a small grant to the Winona Area Public Schools from the Minnesota …

EVELETH, Jun 17, 2013 (Duluth News Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Minnesota lawmakers who make up the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board today gave their blessing to a plan to restructure a $9.15 million loan …

Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 17 Supreme Court's gene patent ruling was overdue It seems obvious that a company shouldn't hold a patent on something that the human body produces. Proprietary patents, after all, protect the exclusive rights to …

As some U.S. utilities are abandoning old nuclear power plants, Xcel Energy says it’s investing $1.8 billion to extend the life of its 40-year-old Minnesota reactors. At the company’s Prairie Island nuclear plant in Red Wing, 1,550 contract workers this …

Press Release NEW YORK - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Link to Fitch Ratings' Report: U.S. Public Power Peer Study -- June 2013: http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=710397 Debt service coverage continued to decline in 2012 for …

As some U.S. utilities are abandoning old nuclear power plants, Xcel Energy says it’s investing $1.8 billion to extend the life of its 40-year-old Minnesota reactors. At the company’s Prairie Island nuclear plant in Red Wing, Minn., 1,550 contract workers …

HOME TEARDOWN The divide between rich and poor is clear The plans of Cargill heir Donald C. MacMillan to tear down a $10 million home on Lake Minnetonka evoked a range of reactions in me that can best be summed up by: “Just because you can, doesn’t mean …

Barbara Mahler, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who's researched the hazards of coal tar pavement sealant, takes a sample of parking lot dust in 2007 in Lake In the Hills, a suburb of Chicago.(Photo: Peter Van Metre)Story Highlights …

Elizabeth Dickinson and Christopher Childs insist they aren’t early adopters of solar energy. They put solar panels on their home in 2007 – years after Dickinson’s parents installed a solar hot water system on their home in the 1970s. Still, the …

Roseau Electric Cooperative officials have informed co-op members that the latest $425 million price tag for upgrading one of the dirtiest coal plants in the nation has now been dutifully passed on to them, the rate payers. The Milton R. Young plant in …

By Lauren King The Virginian-Pilot © June 14, 2013Officials said 31,000 customers remained without power this afternoon in Hampton Roads and northeastern North Carolina after storms Thursday toppled trees and caused the deaths of four people.  No …

by Elizabeth Dunbar, Minnesota Public Radio June 14, 2013 What is Minnesota's new solar energy law? The law passed by the Minnesota Legislature and signed by Gov. Mark Dayton requires the four investor-owned utilities in Minnesota — Xcel Energy, …

by Elizabeth Dunbar, Minnesota Public Radio June 14, 2013 ST. PAUL, Minn. — Elizabeth Dickinson and Christopher Childs insist they are not early adopters of solar energy. They put solar panels on their home in 2007 — years after Dickinson's parents …

By Lauren King The Virginian-Pilot © June 14, 2013More than 40,000 customers remained without power this morning in Hampton Roads and northeastern North Carolina after storms Thursday left thousands in the dark, toppled trees and caused the deaths of …

Minnesota utility regulators approved Minnesota Power's $350 plan to retrofit the 585-megawatt Unit 4 at the Boswell coal-fired power plant to reduce mercury emissions to comply with stricter federal environmental regulations. Minnesota Power, a unit …