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IMIMPAt 220 South Sixth Street Suite 1300 Minneapolis, MN 55402 <br /> tel. 612.349.6868 fax. 612.349.6108 www.mmpa.org <br /> Minnesota Municipal Power Agency <br /> Construction Begins on MMPA's Shakopee Energy Park <br /> MMPA distributed generation facility breaks ground. <br /> April 8, 2016—A 46MW distributed generation power facility being built by the <br /> Minnesota Municipal Power Agency will soon be rising on the eastern edge of Shakopee, <br /> near Canterbury Park. <br /> MMPA has broken ground on the six-acre site and expects the facility, fueled by <br /> natural gas, to be operational next year. MMPA is the wholesale power supplier to <br /> Shakopee Public Utilities, as well as 11 other municipal member communities. <br /> MMPA's management partner, Avant Energy of Minneapolis, is managing the <br /> facility's design and construction. <br /> "MMPA is committed to adding local, efficient resources to the Agency's <br /> generation portfolio," said Avant Energy's Vice President of Consulting and Development, <br /> Kelsey Dillon. <br /> "The Agency sees significant advantages to the project, including local <br /> interconnection to avoid high voltage transmission, increased local reliability of supply and <br /> supporting business development in our member communities," Dillon said. <br /> John Crooks, Shakopee Public Utilities Manager and MMPA board member, said <br /> his community is enthusiastic about the project. <br /> "We very much like having this generating facility in Shakopee because we see <br /> great advantage in having local production and distribution," Crooks said. "We're a <br /> growing community and we're pleased to have this opportunity to offer increased electric <br /> reliability to our customers." <br /> Recent large, high-profile additions to Shakopee's business base include Amazon <br /> and Shutterfly. <br /> Crooks added that hot water recovered from the natural gas-fired reciprocating <br /> engines will be another important economic development tool for the Shakopee area. <br /> Further, he said, the facility will support the MMPA mission to provide competitively- <br /> priced, reliable power to its customers. <br /> The power from Shakopee Energy Park will become an important component of <br /> MMPA's diversified portfolio of generation resources, which includes facilities like <br /> Faribault Energy Park, fueled by natural gas and its newest renewable energy facilities — <br /> 206 <br />