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Updated: Otter Tail Power seeks to sell its share of the Coyote Station by 2028

Lignite Energy Council

Otter Tail Power Company is intending to sell its share of the Coyote Station power plant by 2028.

Otter Tail has a 35 percent ownership stake in that plant.

It’s a 420 megawatt facility, located south of Beulah. It opened in 1981.

The plant is supplied by North American Coal’s Coyote Creek Mine.

In its Integrated Resource Plan, submitted to regulators in the Dakotas and Minnesota, the Fergus Falls-based company said it will be asking to add dual-fuel capacity at its Astoria Station in South Dakota, which is fueled in part by North Dakota natural gas. Otter Tail also wants to add 150 megawatts of solar, at a yet-to-be-determined location.

Otter Tail communications director Stephanie Hoff said the company is the plant operator. She said the utility is not requesting that Coyote be retired.

"Our modeling is showing that it's simply not cost-effective for the customers that we serve, in the three states that we serve," Hoff said. "All we're looking at right now is our withdrawal."

Hoff said the natural gas fired plant at Astoria is quickly dispatchable, meaning it could be up and running within a 45 minute window.

In addition to Otter Tail, companies with stakes in the Coyote Plant include MDU, Northern Municipal Power and Northwestern Energy.