MINNEAPOLIS — Xcel Energy celebrated a clean energy milestone Tuesday, marking the completion of the first phase of the utility’s massive Sherco Solar Project near Clearwater. 

Company executives, contractors, union leaders, utility regulators and government officials gathered at the edge of the immense array of solar panels for a ceremony calling attention to the fact that power has started to flow to the regional power grid.

“As the largest clean energy project in the upper Midwest, this project demonstrates we’re not just talking about clean energy, we’re actually building it,” Xcel CEO Bob Frenzel told those who gathered at the site Tuesday. “Our clean energy vision is about sustainability, but it’s also about energy security. It’s about reliability. It’s about economic prosperity for all, for our customers, for our communities.”

Xcel Energy has invested heavily in wind energy in the past, but the Sherco project is the utility’s largest solar venture. It’s strategically located to connect to the grid at the nearby Sherco Energy Center, a coal-fired plant that is being phased out after serving as the main source of electricity in the area for decades.

By the time the Sherco Solar Project is finished in 2026, the complex will feature 1.5 million solar panels spread across 5,000 acres. It will be capable of generating 710 megawatts, which is enough juice to power 150,000 homes.

The utility is also launching a major battery storage project at the same site, and will be testing new technologies for capturing and holding the energy.

Frenzel noted that while Xcel has closed 24 coal-burning units across its system in the past 15 years, it hasn’t resulted in any staff losses in those communities.

Ryan Long, Xcel’s president for the Minnesota and Dakotas region, thanked the utility’s partners for the roles they’ve played in making a transition to clean energy.

“We can do all of this and keep bills low for customers,” Long told the crowd. “The investments we’re making bring back hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants to Minnesotans, and back to our customers through lower bills.”

Long said Xcel will continue to take an “all of the above” approach to renewable energy sources, which includes extending the lives of the state’s existing nuclear power plants.

“We’re going to invest in hundreds of megawatts of new battery storage, but we’re also going to extend the lives of our nuclear facilities, which provide around-the-clock carbon-free energy on our system and really will become the new backbone of our generation system as we move through this energy transition.”

Xcel invited Governor Walz to the solar launch, to thank him for setting high goals for carbon-free sources of energy and supporting legislation that will make it easier to build transmission lines connecting renewable energy projects to where the demand exists.

“We’re proving for the rest of the country this is not an either/or choice. We are producing energy across the spectrum, from nuclear, to natural gas, to the clean energies you see here,” Walz remarked. “When you look at this happening, this is what the future can look like. And the future is bright.”

Instead of the traditional ribbon-cutting photo op, they held a symbolic “plug-in” ceremony, to highlight the fact phase one of Sherco Solar is already generating electricity.

Katie Sieben, who chairs the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, said the project represents a collaboration of many stakeholders. She also noted that Xcel and its contractor Blattner Energy of Avon have complied with mandates to pay prevailing wages, logging 730,000 hours of work by union members on the solar project.

She thanked Xcel for starting the project in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We needed Minnesotans to get back to work. We knew we needed help building our clean energy future. And, thanks to Xcel’s vision, leadership, and perseverance, they brought a really wonderful project to Minnesota.”

Chris Hodrick of Blattner Energy thanked the unions by name, which include Operators Engineers Local 49, LIUNA Local 563, Ironworkers Local 512, IBEW Local 292, and IBEW Local 160.

He also gave a shoutout to the communities around the Sherco Plant for welcoming his crews and subcontractors.

“With the towns of Becker and Clearwater the support here has been tremendous. It’s important for us because we’ve become part of the community.”