PUC approves solar array for Prairie’s Edge Casino Resort

ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission ordered the Minnesota Valley Cooperative Light and Power Association to allow the Upper Sioux Community to turn on its behind-the-meter solar array while also rebuking the cooperative for what some commissioners described as “unethical and unlawful” behavior by it.

The commission members voted unanimously Thursday for a motion by Joseph Sullivan, vice chair. It orders the Montevideo-based cooperative to allow for the solar array connection pending the completion of an independent engineering analysis and any technical recommendations it may make.

The motion, which is based on findings and recommendations made by Administrative Law Judge Joseph C. Meyer on June 8, also states that the commission has jurisdiction in the complaint raised by the Upper Sioux Community.

Sullivan said his motion was designed to get the solar array “up and running” as quickly as possible, and prevent Minnesota Valley from disconnecting electrical service to the Upper Sioux Community’s operations. It also allows the Office of Attorney General and Department of Commerce “to swing into action very quickly” if the cooperative does not comply with it.

The commissioners expressed their fears that Minnesota Valley will impose excessive costs on the community for the interconnection as a means to thwart its use.

The cooperative had threatened to discontinue electrical service to Prairie’s Edge Casino Resort in December of 2024 if the community activated the 2.5-megawatt solar array with battery storage. The community has invested more than $8 million for the system, which it intends to use behind-the-meter to provide an estimated 30% of the electrical needs of the operations.

The system is built but has been non-operational for more than a year due to Minnesota Valley’s threat. The attorney representing the Upper Sioux Community, Josh Peterson, told the commissioners that the threat to discontinue service threatened the community’s “very right to exist” by depriving it of the revenues it needs to function.

Minnesota Valley Cooperative has a policy prohibiting its members from producing more than 40 kilowatts of renewable energy. In this case, the cooperative said it would allow the community to export any power over 40 kilowatts to a purchaser outside of its service territory.

Attorney Matthew Haugen, representing the cooperative, told the commissioners that it would comply with an order to allow the solar array to operate. But he also told the commissioners that the cooperative would appeal any such order to the district courts.

Haugen reiterated the cooperative’s position that the Public Utilities Commission does not have jurisdiction over the rural electric cooperative under state law.

The administrative law judge found that the commission does have jurisdiction since the complaint is over “service standards and practices,” which Minnesota law gives the PUC authority to oversee for all electric providers.

Sullivan was among the first of the commissioners to decry how the cooperative has treated the Upper Sioux Community, the largest electrical user of the 5,250 members in the cooperative. He charged that the cooperative treated its members as “hostages” with its rule, which the Office of Attorney General charged was discriminatory against renewable energy. The cooperative does not have a 40-kilowatt limit on the size of diesel generators its customers might use, the office stated.

Commissioner Audrey Partridge urged members of the cooperative to hold their leadership accountable. She pointed out that every member is paying the equivalent of about $130 per year to provide for the more than $500,000 in compensation paid to the cooperative’s CEO and President John Carruth. That compares to $40 to $60 per member that is the norm for most rural cooperatives, according to Partridge.

She also pointed out that the members of the cooperative’s board of directors are receiving $18,000 to $20,000 a year to “check the boxes.’’ The commissioner continued, “ What you are doing is wrong. There is no question.”

Partridge and Sullivan also pointed out that 26 members of the Minnesota Rural Electric Association had written the commission a letter voicing their own concerns about the practices of Minnesota Valley Cooperative Light and Power Association.

Sullivan spoke directly to Carruth, who was in attendance at the hearing.

“I really hope that you engage with the (Upper Sioux) Community and help them effectuate what they want to do,” he said.

He added that he feared his criticism would fall on deaf ears.

He cited the letter from the cooperative’s peers and how they had written to say, “What you are doing is wrong. … That speaks volumes,” he said.