"North Dakota's Coal Creek Station, a workhorse of the Upper Midwest power fleet, will burn its final ton of lignite in a couple of years following a decision announced yesterday that underscores the industry's struggle to survive.

The plant's owner, Great River Energy, which generates power for 700,000 people in Minnesota, said it will shut the Coal Creek plant in the second half of 2022, years ahead of schedule. It will replace most of the energy with new wind farms.

The 1,151-megawatt Coal Creek plant, about an hour's drive north of Bismarck, had been struggling financially for years. But the decision to pull the plug has political, climate and economic consequences that will ripple across the region."

Jeffrey Tomich reports for Energywire May 8, 2020. [2]