Minnesota utility regulators approve Minnesota’s 1st stand-alone battery storage project

Minnesota utility regulators have approved the state’s first stand-alone battery storage project. The 150 megawatt Snowshoe Energy storage project will be built near Rochester. It will store excess electricity from the grid for up to four hours and then discharge it when there’s high demand.

A runway at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport will be closed for a second round of repairs starting Monday. The south parallel runway is 10,000 feet long and located between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. Construction is expected to last until Sept. 26.

Conservation officials are raising concerns about a growing trend of armoring Minnesota lakeshores with rocks. On lakes across Minnesota, homeowners often use large rocks known as riprap to create a tidy edge along the water, or to prevent erosion. But lake experts say the rocks don't slow water running into the lake, or filter nutrients like phosphorus that are in lawn fertilizers and can cause algae blooms.

If you drive Interstate 35W in the south metro late at night or early in the morning, you’ll encounter a detour for the next three nights starting Monday. The nighttime closures are part of an ongoing, multiyear $80 million project to repair and replace bridges along I-35W in Burnsville. Crews this week are scheduled to set beams for the Highway 13 and Burnsville Parkway bridges over the freeway.

Go deeper with the latest edition of the Minnesota Today newsletter.

Minnesota approves first stand-alone battery system, a key step toward a clean energy future

Minnesota is armoring its shorelines with rocks, but lakes are paying a price

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