Elk River Power Plant turns dirty garbage into clean energy

Elk River Station began operation as a coal- and oil-burning plant in the 1950s. Great River Energy converted it to nuclear energy in the 1960s, switched back to coal and oil in the1970s and finally decommissioned the plant in the 1980s. Several counties in Great River Energy’s service territory took out bonds, and the co-op converted Elk River Station to a waste-to-energy generator in 1989.