General Info

The Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency generates and sells electricity wholesale. Its main customers are members, 18 municipally owned utilities located mostly in south central and southeastern Minnesota. The organization also provides them with commercial/industrial and residential-related services and products that help them serve the energy needs of 92,000 retail customers. SMMPA was created in 1977. Its main source of electricity is the 884-megawatt Sherco 3 generating unit located near Becker, Minn. It owns 41 percent of the plant in partnership with the plant's operator, Northern States Power Company. Sherco 3 burns low-sulfur Western coal and is the largest such unit in the state. SMMPA also relies on the array of intermediate and peaking units of its members, key elements in the agency's energy mix. SMMPA controls and dispatches these units as needed.