The Riverside plant was converted from a coal-fired to a natural gas-fired generating facility. It is the last of three Twin Cities’ power plants to go on-line as part of a project to protect the environment and produce cleaner energy in the metro area.
In May 2002, Xcel Energy voluntarily proposed the Minnesota Metro Emissions Reduction Project to reduce air emissions from three Twin Cities coal-powered generating plants while increasing the amount of electricity they produce. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved the plan in December 2003.
MERP projects included adding emissions controls to the coal-fired Allen S King plant in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota, replacing the coal-fired High Bridge plant near downtown St. Paul with a natural gas-fired combined cycle plant and repowering the aging coal-fired Riverside plant in northeast Minneapolis with natural gas-fired combined-cycle units.
Upgrades at the King plant were completed in 2007. The new High Bridge plant began commercial operations in May 2008. The newly repowered Riverside plant began commercial operations on May 1, 2009.
The $1 billion MERP package of improvements increased capacity at the three plants by a total of 300MW, said Xcel Energy.
The Minnesota Legislature in 2001 passed legislation that provided a mechanism for electric utilities to recover the costs of voluntary emissions reduction projects through an increase on customer bills. The impact of MERP on customer rates is phased in. By 2010, MERP construction costs will increase a residential customer’s bill by approximately $2.73 per month, the company said.
One of the oldest plants in Xcel Energy’s system, Riverside began serving Minneapolis in 1911. Through MERP, the company replaced the existing coal-powered facility with natural gas-fired combustion turbines and heat recovery steam generators.
