ALLETE unit to expand Minnesota fleet with 200 MW of fresh solar

Minnesota Power, a utility subsidiary of ALLETE Inc, on Monday announced plans to build two new solar parks to expand its green energy fleet in its home state by over 200 MW.

The plants will be installed in northern Minnesota and are expected to become operational in the middle of 2027. Both projects were among the winners in an open process from competitive bids in Minnesota Power’s 2023 solar request for proposals.

With an installed capacity of 119.5 MW, the Regal photovoltaic (PV) park will be located near Royalton, consisting of 255,000 bifacial modules covering 800 acres of land. The grid-connection will be via a 3.5-mile collector line.

Minnesota Power will also build the Boswell solar farm in Cohasset, adding 85 MW of power generation capacity. The plant will be equipped with 180,000 bifacial modules.

The two projects will be executed to support Minnesota Power’s efforts to meet the up to 300-MW solar power requirement in the utility’s Integrated Resource Plan. Each of them needs to be approved by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC).

“These projects will help move us toward our goal of providing more than 80% renewable energy by 2030 while working toward meeting the state of Minnesota law calling for carbon-free energy supplies by 2040,” said Minnesota Power’s CEO Josh Skelton.