By Dan Kraker, Minnesota Public Radio
Minnesota utility regulators have approved the state’s first stand-alone energy storage project, an important milestone in Minnesota’s effort to transition to producing completely carbon-free electricity.
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved a site permit for the 150-megawatt Snowshoe Energy Storage Project, which will be built on an 18-acre site west of Rochester, near the town of Byron.
The batteries will store excess electricity produced by nearby solar and wind farms, and then discharge the power during times of high demand — for example, when people return home from work and school and turn on their air conditioners.
Several battery energy storage systems have been built or approved recently in Minnesota in conjunction with solar energy projects, including a facility approved in July in Faribault County, south of Mankato.
But the Snowshoe project, to be developed by Spearmint Energy, a battery system developer based in Miami with an office in Eden Prairie in the Twin Cities area, is the first standalone battery system to be built in the state that will be connected directly to the electric grid.
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