Brownfield & Retired Power Plant Sites in Minnesota
60 catalogued brownfield and retired-generation sites in Minnesota, listed by former capacity. Each carries an existing utility-scale grid interconnection that a new datacenter load may be able to re-use.
At a glance
What kinds of former sites are in Minnesota?
By former use, the list includes 24 oil, 20 natural gas, 7 coal, 4 landfill, 2 biomass, 1 waste-to-energy and 2 other categories. Recorded retirement dates run from January 1988 to December 2024, with 29 retirements in 2015 or later. 55 of 58 sites with a measured distance sit within 2 miles of a transmission substation.
How does Minnesota compare with other states?
Minnesota ranks 9th of 50 states and DC by number of brownfield and retired-generation sites, out of 2,085 nationally. By recorded capacity (3,816 MW) it ranks 26th, against 289,280 MW across all states. The state also has 3,216 scored datacenter candidate sites, 18 of them classed as brownfield sites, averaging 56 on the 0–100 DC Readiness scale.
Where in Minnesota are these sites?
- Dakota County · 5
- Sherburne County · 3
- Hennepin County · 3
- Olmsted County · 3
- McLeod County · 3
- Ramsey County · 2
- Cook County · 2
- Otter Tail County · 2
- Martin County · 2
- Blue Earth County · 2
- Le Sueur County · 2
- Steele County · 2
- Brown County · 2
- Rock County · 2
- Carlton County · 2
- Cottonwood County · 2
- Itasca County · 1
- Benton County · 1
- St Louis County · 1
- Rice County · 1
- Chippewa County · 1
- Kandiyohi County · 1
- Koochiching County · 1
- Clay County · 1
All brownfield and retired plant sites in Minnesota
| Site | Former use | Capacity | Retired | County |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Dog | gas | 1,118 MW | 2015-04-01 | Dakota |
| Sherburne County | coal | 765 MW | 2023-12-01 | Sherburne |
| High Bridge | coal | 277 MW | 2007-12-01 | Ramsey |
| Taconite Harbor Energy Center | coal | 252 MW | 2023-03-01 | Cook |
| Riverside (MN) | coal | 239 MW | 2009-04-01 | Hennepin |
| Clay Boswell | coal | 150 MW | 2018-12-01 | Itasca |
| Hoot Lake | coal | 137 MW | 2021-06-01 | Otter Tail |
| Fox Lake | gas | 133 MW | 2017-11-01 | Martin |
| Silver Lake | coal | 99 MW | 2015-12-01 | Olmsted |
| Key City | gas | 72 MW | 2015-04-01 | Blue Earth |
| Granite City | gas | 72 MW | 2019-06-01 | Benton |
| M L Hibbard | oil | 50 MW | 2003-12-01 | St Louis |
| West Fairbault | gas | 49 MW | 2006-12-01 | Rice |
| Elk River | waste | 48 MW | 2019-03-01 | Sherburne |
| Minnesota Valley | gas | 46 MW | 2006-12-01 | Chippewa |
| Hutchinson Plant #1 | gas | 36 MW | 2022-09-01 | McLeod |
| Willmar | gas | 30 MW | 2020-07-01 | Kandiyohi |
| Boise Cascade International Falls | biomass | 29 MW | 2018-12-01 | Koochiching |
| Montgomery | oil | 29 MW | 2012-12-01 | Le Sueur |
| Owatonna | gas | 26 MW | 2011-10-01 | Steele |
| Hutchinson Plant #2 | gas | 25 MW | 1999-01-01 | McLeod |
| Fairmont (MN) | gas | 23 MW | 2009-12-01 | Martin |
| Moorhead | oil | 10 MW | 2011-07-01 | Clay |
| Thomson Reuters Data Center Bldg H | oil | 8 MW | 2024-12-01 | Dakota |
| Elk River City of | oil | 8 MW | 2024-09-01 | Sherburne |
| West Group Data Center F | oil | 8 MW | 2024-12-01 | Dakota |
| Co Rd 33 | oil | 5 MW | — | Lyon |
| West Group Data Center | oil | 5 MW | 2005-06-01 | Dakota |
| Franklin Heating Station | gas | 5 MW | 2021-02-01 | Olmsted |
| EKS Landfill | gas | 5 MW | 2020-12-01 | Dakota |
| United Hospital | oil | 5 MW | 2017-08-01 | Ramsey |
| Archer Daniels Midland Mankato | gas | 4 MW | 1999-06-01 | Blue Earth |
| Springfield (MN) | gas | 4 MW | 2002-12-01 | Brown |
| Hills | oil | 4 MW | 2015-07-01 | Rock |
| United Health Care | oil | 4 MW | 2008-02-01 | Hennepin |
| Moose Lake | gas | 3 MW | 2019-01-01 | Carlton |
| Luverne | gas | 3 MW | 2002-01-01 | Rock |
| Windom | oil | 3 MW | 2022-04-01 | Cottonwood |
| Saint Marys Hospital Power Plant | gas | 3 MW | 2020-05-01 | Olmsted |
| Grand Marais | oil | 2 MW | 2003-12-01 | Cook |
| Milwaukee Landfill Solar | landfill | 2 MW | — | — |
| Sappi Cloquet Mill | biomass | 2 MW | 1988-01-01 | Carlton |
| Fergus Control Ctr | oil | 2 MW | 2019-10-01 | Otter Tail |
| Mountain Lake | oil | 2 MW | 2023-01-01 | Cottonwood |
| Alliant Techsystems | oil | 2 MW | 2015-08-01 | Hennepin |
| Sleepy Eye | oil | 2 MW | 2010-06-01 | Brown |
| North Branch (MN) | oil | 1 MW | 2010-12-01 | Chisago |
| New Prague | gas | 1 MW | 2009-01-01 | Le Sueur |
| Blooming Prairie | oil | 1 MW | 2005-07-01 | Steele |
| Glencoe | oil | 1 MW | 2013-05-01 | McLeod |
| Benson City of | oil | 1 MW | 2013-05-01 | Swift |
| Delano | gas | 1 MW | 2020-03-01 | Wright |
| Wells IC | oil | 1 MW | 2019-09-01 | Faribault |
| Lakefield Utilities | oil | 1 MW | 2002-12-01 | Jackson |
| Lanesboro | oil | 1 MW | 2016-04-01 | Fillmore |
| Seneca Community Solar Garden | landfill | 1 MW | — | — |
| Hutchinson Landfill | landfill | 0 MW | — | — |
| Washington County Landfill (MN) | superfund | 0 MW | — | — |
| Olmsted County/Penz Property | manufacturing | — | — | — |
| Lindenfelser Landfill | landfill | — | — | — |
Frequently asked questions
How many retired power plants are in Minnesota?
GridCensus lists 54 retired power plant sites in Minnesota from EIA-860 retirement records. 53 have a recorded retirement date, 29 of them in 2015 or later.
What is the largest retired power plant or brownfield site in Minnesota?
Black Dog in Burnsville is the largest by recorded capacity, at 1,117.8 MW. It is followed by Sherburne County (765.3 MW) and High Bridge (276.8 MW).
Which power plant in Minnesota retired most recently?
Thomson Reuters Data Center Bldg H has the latest recorded retirement date in the state, December 2024, with 8 MW of capacity.
Which county in Minnesota has the most brownfield and retired plant sites?
Dakota County has the most, with 5, followed by Sherburne County with 3.
How many EPA brownfield sites in Minnesota have completed cleanup?
6 of the 6 EPA-tracked sites listed for Minnesota are recorded as cleanup complete.
Looking for a specific record? The directory lists every brownfield site, A to Z.
More on Minnesota, and states with similar counts
- Datacenter candidate sites in Minnesota· 3,216 sites
- Electric substations in Minnesota· 208 named
- Brownfield candidate sites nationwide
- Brownfield sites by state
- Brownfield sites in Iowa· 62 sites
- Brownfield sites in Pennsylvania· 59 sites
- Brownfield sites in Illinois· 68 sites
- Brownfield sites in Michigan· 54 sites
About this data
Source: EIA-860 retired generating units and EPA RE-Powering America's Land contaminated-site records, as published March 6, 2026. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.
Cite as: GridCensus, “Brownfield and retired power plant sites in Minnesota”, https://gridcensus.com/brownfield-sites/minnesota (data as of March 6, 2026).
Dataset updated . Screening estimates derived from public data sources.
Go deeper than the public screen
Every site and score for brownfield sites in Minnesota is free to browse. Pro adds Watchtower on 25 sites, alerts when new candidate sites, datacenters or interconnection-queue requests appear in your markets, score and capacity history, and CSV export. Enterprise adds team seats, weekly data files for all 147,272 sites, the REST API and an MCP server for AI tools.