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Grid draw

Sites tied up in state environmental review (EAW/EIS) or active litigation. These are where legal support and statewide precedent move fastest.

EAW ChallengedCitizen petition or contested EAW in progress3
EIS OrderedAgency escalated the site to a full EIS0
Court PausedRestraining order, stay, or appellate ruling halting work3
Last updated: Aug 26, 2026

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MN 2040 Clean Grid Tracker

Minnesota's statutory 100% carbon-free electricity mandate, against the real-world load data centers are asking the same grid to carry.

  • 203080% / 60%
    Two tracks: 80% for investor-owned utilities, 60% for municipals and co-ops.25 points above where the state stands today.
  • 203590%
    Tracks converge — 90% for every electric utility in the state.35 points above where the state stands today.
  • 2040100%
    The mandate: 100% carbon-free for every electric utility.45 points above where the state stands today.
Years Remaining14to 2040
Renewable Share33%of 55% carbon-free; rest is nuclear
The Risk Factor

If every non-rejected site on this map were built and running at 80% utilisation, the 4.91 GW tracked here would draw about 50% of Minnesota's entire annual retail electricity sales.

Xcel alone reports more than 2 GW of data center capacity already under contract, and expects 6 GW in queue by 2027.

Why that bears on 2040: the deadline is not self-executing. Under Minn. Stat. § 216B.1691, subd. 2b the PUC may delay or modify a utility's compliance on cost, reliability or feasibility grounds. New load of this scale is the argument that off-ramp gets made with.

Sources & Methodology

The mandate. Minn. Stat. § 216B.1691, subd. 2g, enacted by Laws of Minnesota 2023, ch. 7 (HF 7 / SF 4). The 2030 milestone has two tracks — 80% for investor-owned utilities, 60% for municipals and co-ops. A separate renewable standard requires 55% renewable by 2035; nuclear counts as carbon-free but not as renewable, which is why the two are tracked apart.

The 55%. 2026 Minnesota Energy Factsheet (CEEM / BCSE, from MN Commerce and EIA data), covering 2025. This is the share of electricity generated in Minnesota. The statute is enforced per utility against retail sales to that utility's own Minnesota customers, and the state sits inside MISO, so this is an indicator of the state's trajectory rather than a compliance score. No statewide compliance figure is published, because compliance is not a statewide quantity.

Largest utility. Xcel put its Upper Midwest system at 60% carbon-free in 2023 and has not published an updated share since; its figures since are emissions reductions against a 2005 baseline, which is a different measure and is not plotted here. That system also covers parts of the Dakotas, Wisconsin and Michigan, so it is not a Minnesota-only figure.

Data center load. Nameplate capacity of the 31 non-rejected sites in this map's dataset, at 80% utilisation, against Minnesota's total annual retail sales. It measures how much electricity the buildout wants — not how that electricity is generated, which is the open question, not a settled one.

Figures are the most recent published; there is no live feed for the statewide mix. Corrections welcome — this is a public record, not an estimate.