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American Crystal Sugar Crookston

Coal power plant in Minnesota, United States of America. Approximate location 47.7647, -96.6334.

CoalMinnesotaUnited States of America

American Crystal Sugar Crookston is a 6 MW coal power plant in Minnesota, United States of America. It is operated by American Crystal Sugar Co. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 8,134 homes (estimated). It ranks #5228 of 9,833 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1963, it is around 63 years old — an older, legacy facility. In context, coal supplies about 16.3% of United States of America's electricity; the national grid averages 384 gCO₂/kWh (43.0% low-carbon) (2025).

6MW installed capacity
8,134homes powered (est.)
1963commissioned (~63 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0054212.

~28,470 t CO₂/yr (estimated) — in everyday terms

This facility's annual emissions are roughly equivalent to:

6,636passenger cars driven for a year
3,713homes' yearly energy use
474,500tree seedlings grown 10 years to absorb it

Estimated, not measured: from installed capacity at a typical 50% load factor × a typical coal emission factor (~1000 g CO₂/kWh, IPCC AR5 / US EIA). Actual emissions depend on plant efficiency and running hours.Equivalencies via US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies.

Reported generation trend

2013: 34 GWh20132014: 0 GWh20142015: 33 GWh20152016: 41 GWh20162017: 40 GWh20172018: 0 GWh20182019: 0 GWh201941 GWh

Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by American Crystal Sugar Co. All plants by this company →

Local climate & thermal context

This coal plant burns coal to raise high-pressure steam that spins a turbine-generator. It sits in a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 47.8°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

4.5°Cannual mean temp
5,040heating degree-days (base 18°C)
145cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
269 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: -15 °CJF: -11 °CFM: -4 °CMA: 6 °CAM: 14 °CMJ: 18 °CJJ: 20 °CJA: 20 °CAS: 14 °CSO: 7 °CON: -3 °CND: -12 °CD20 °C

Heating degree-days here run 105% above the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.

Climate heat-demand index: 94/100 — this site sits in the top third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.

In colder climates, uninsulated hot equipment (boilers, turbines, valves, steam lines) loses proportionally more heat to ambient air — exactly the loss Inzonex modular insulation is designed to cut.

Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #276 largest coal power plant of 286 in United States of America by capacity.

United States of America has 286 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 249,149 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 47.7647, -96.6334 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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