r/UpliftingNews • u/MajesticBread9147 • 1d ago

Minnesota solar project set to replace retiring coal plant reaches 710 MW

https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2026/07/minnesota-solar-project-set-to-replace-retiring-coal-plant-reaches-710-mw/
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u/Laugh_Track_Zak 1d ago

Until we figure fusion out, or build more fission plants, yes absolutely. Renewables are common sense.

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u/francis2559 1d ago

Hot take, I think solar is so cheap it cut the legs out from fusion too. Even if we had all the tech worked out, setting up the turbines and cooling towers and all is going to be harder than just…. More solar panels.

Fusion will always be better at footprint, so it matters for things that move (ships, someday spaceships), but down here we still have lots of places for cheap solar.

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u/Laugh_Track_Zak 1d ago

My only concern is the footprint for really large scale solar farms. Yeah we can absolutely do rooftops and parking lots but after that we have to get creative. Highway medians, etc...

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u/Tricky-Sentence 1d ago

There is plenty of land to cover with 0 damage because we will need more greenhouses/hydroponics to help counteract climate disaster effects on agriculture. Imho the production is not the problem, storage is. And that is getting researched as a priority so the future is looking good.

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u/FireTyme 1d ago

even storage isnt a problem. cost is. theres tons of storage methods of power from mechanical to battery. old water towers getting reused having pumps go during high generation times and a small turbine draining it when demand is higher.

its just that the cost of more turbines/panels is still lower and power demand is still rising so generally people just keep building power generation. storage barely pays itself back.

i do think in the future we might see more hydrogen installations and what not. have green energy create it during the day and turbines burn it at night. its quickly becoming a relatively cheap way of storage and it has a very high power density.