Upper Sioux Community wins solar array fight, utility says it will likely appeal
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More than a year after the Upper Sioux Community brought a complaint to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, state regulators told the tribe's electric cooperative Thursday that it cannot cut the power at the casino over a solar array the tribe built.
State regulators found that the Minnesota Valley Cooperative Light and Power Association acted “unlawfully and unreasonably” when it threatened to disconnect the Upper Sioux Community over the tribes behind‑the‑meter solar array.
The commission ordered that any disconnection, or threat of disconnection, over the array violates state law. Commissioners also directed the state attorney general to investigate whether the cooperative has violated state law, and to seek penalties of $100 to $1,000 per violation.
The commission ordered the cooperative to keep serving the Upper Sioux Community. The commission's order sets several conditions. The array must remain “behind-the-meter,” or off grid, and it must follow the recommendations of an independent engineering study.
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The array has been finished and sitting unused for the past year and a half.
“I think we would have loved to get it earlier,” said Joshua Peterson, an attorney for the Upper Sioux Community. “But we’re happy that they are recognizing the bad behavior of the Minnesota Valley.”
The Upper Sioux Community built a 2.5-megawatt solar array with battery storage at Prairie's Edge Casino Resort near Granite Falls, enough to cover about 30 percent of the casino’s energy use.
The cooperative has a board policy that caps what a member can generate at 40 kilowatts, a fraction of the array’s size. The cooperative sent a cease-and-desist letter in November 2024 warning the tribe it risked losing electric service. The parties attempted mediation and failed to reach an agreement. The tribe filed a formal complaint with the state in May 2025.
Commissioner Joseph Sullivan asked cooperative attorney Matthew Haugen if the cooperative would shut the power off once an independent engineer signs off on the project.
Haugen told commissioners that Minnesota Valley would not disconnect power to the tribe but will likely file an appeal to the commission regarding its order.
Haugen also said the cooperative might impose demand fees or standby charges once the array is up and running. Haugen said if the casino's power purchases drop substantially, there is "the chance that there would be some type of a demand charge."
Throughout the dispute, Haugen argued the commission has no authority over the dispute at all, and asked commissioners to dismiss the complaint. He said state law lets the cooperative set its own rules for what members generate, and that its board policy allows the 40-kilowatt cap, a rule it says it applies equally to its approximately 5300 member-owners. Since the complaint opened, the cooperative has said that it was concerned with losing revenue.
In June, an administrative law judge found that the cooperative board policy does not restrict meter projects. The judge found the policy lays out how a member connects to the system but does not cap how much electricity a member can make for its own use.
Commissioner Audrey Partridge said the cooperative had "acted unethically and unlawfully."
“We are here trying to protect one of your members from you,” Partridge said. “That’s what we’re here to do right now, and we’re trying to weave together our authority and the authority of the Office of the Attorney General and our state laws to protect the Upper Sioux community, your member for decades upon decades, from you.”
Partridge told the cooperative she was unconvinced by its claims of lost revenue. She pointed to filings that showed the cooperative has overcharged the tribe and went further by pointing to what the cooperative pays its top executive. She said by her math, each Minnesota Valley’s members currently pay about $130 a year toward the general manager's compensation. At peer cooperatives, she stated, the payment averages between $40 and $60 a year.
Sullivan said the relationship between the utility and the Upper Sioux Community is fundamentally broken, and that the cooperative is not treating the tribe as a member at all.
“You’re treating them like captured people who have to buy power from you,” Sullivan said.
Haugen did not respond to a written request for comment following Thursday’s hearing.
Upper Sioux Community Attorney Joshua Peterson said an independent engineer will study the system, and once all safety issues are resolved, the tribe intends to power up the system.
Commissioners opted not to decide questions of tribal sovereignty. The administrative law judge found that the Upper Sioux Community, as a sovereign tribe, may decline service from the cooperative and seek it from any other utility willing to provide it, or generate its own power. The tribe asked the commission to adopt that finding, but commissioners declined.
“I do recognize that it's a complicated question about state jurisdiction, tribal sovereignty,” Sullivan said. “I don’t think that this venue is the appropriate place to weigh in on those things. That's for another court to decide.”
