The Upper Sioux Community can move toward activating the 2.5-megawatt solar array built to help power Prairie's Edge Casino Resort after the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission ruled Thursday that Minnesota Valley Cooperative Light and Power Association cannot disconnect the tribe's operations over the project. The unanimous decision allows service to continue provided the system remains safe and does not send electricity beyond the tribe's property.
The ruling resolves the immediate threat of a shutoff but leaves technical and legal questions about how the array will operate. According to the Star Tribune, Minnesota Valley cannot cut power to the Upper Sioux Community while the array remains safe and non-exporting. The system includes an 800-kilowatt battery and is designed to offset roughly 30% of the casino resort's energy use, according to the West Central Tribune. Prairie's Edge Casino Resort sits about 120 miles west of the Twin Cities, and the solar project began in 2024.
A Threat That Never Should Have Been Made, Commissioners Say
Minnesota Valley, a rural nonprofit based in Montevideo, had said it could disconnect the tribe's operations if the array was activated. The cooperative argued that the project was 62 times larger than the 40-kilowatt limit in its policy and that the tribe could not use or sell electricity from a larger system without approval from its North Dakota power supplier. It also sent the tribe a cease-and-desist order, according to the reporting cited above.
An administrative law judge had already recommended continuing service. Joseph C. Meyer concluded that disconnecting Prairie's Edge over a behind-the-meter solar array would violate state law and recommended that Minnesota Valley shut off service only in extreme or dangerous situations. He also recommended that the cooperative connect the solar project rather than block it.
Sovereignty, Overcharges and a Broken Relationship
The fight has also become a proxy battle over tribal sovereignty. The Upper Sioux Community argues that its sovereign status gives it the authority to select its own electrical provider, a claim the West Central Tribune describes as central to the broader clash. Tribal chairman Kevin Jensvold has said the Upper Sioux Community does not need permission to build its own power supply, and he said energy costs for the Prairie's Edge gaming enterprise have nearly tripled over the past 20 years.
Commissioners said the record contains evidence that Minnesota Valley overcharged the Upper Sioux Community and raised concerns that the cooperative could retaliate through future rate increases. Joseph Sullivan said the relationship between the utility and the tribe is broken, while attorney Audrey Partridge told the cooperative, “What you're doing is wrong.”
A Coalition of Cooperatives Pushes Back
The ruling did not decide whether the Upper Sioux Community needs permission to build its own power supply. It also left open the possibility that the tribe may have to hire an independent engineer and complete a report on safety risks to the wider grid before operating the 2.5-megawatt facility. Minnesota Valley has said it may seek reconsideration from the commission and could pursue an appeal.
The dispute has drawn criticism from the tribe, Minnesota's attorney general, the state Department of Commerce and a coalition of 26 electrical cooperatives. The cooperatives said it was unacceptable to threaten a customer's power over a self-use solar installation and said consumers have a right to generate their own electricity, according to Twin Cities Business. Minnesota has 50 rural electric cooperatives, and most, like Minnesota Valley, cap member-owned generation at 40 kilowatts, according to Minnesota Public Radio.
A Pattern of Disconnection Disputes
Minnesota Valley has also faced scrutiny in a separate customer-service case involving Clarence Waldner, a diabetic trucker in southwestern Minnesota. The cooperative settled a lawsuit brought by the Attorney General's Office over its decision to shut off Waldner's electricity, agreeing to forgive his debts and improve notices about customers' rights. A May 2026 temporary restraining order required Minnesota Valley to restore his service within six hours and confirm the restoration within an hour, according to the Minnesota Attorney General's Office, which also says state law requires providers to maintain service when medically necessary equipment is in use and a medical professional has notified the utility.
What the cooperative rules show
Minnesota cooperatives do not appear to use one uniform approach to member-owned generation. North Star Electric Cooperative requires distributed-energy-resource applications to be submitted and approved before construction begins, while Connexus Energy's 2026 rate book expressly allows extended parallel operation for certain large facilities serving multiple load centers at one contiguous location, subject to conditions including output limits. Those examples show that a 40-kilowatt ceiling is not the only model used by Minnesota cooperatives, although the available information does not establish how widespread alternative arrangements are.
The Waldner case involved an individual customer's service and medical-necessity protections, rather than the Upper Sioux Community's dispute over a large, behind-the-meter generation project. The Star Tribune reported that a district judge ordered Minnesota Valley to restore Waldner's electricity on May 15 after the state challenged the disconnection: Star Tribune.
The Upper Sioux Community had earlier looked at bypassing Minnesota Valley altogether by asking Xcel Energy to serve the casino area, but withdrew that request after determining a new line would be too costly and take too long to build. An Xcel engineering analysis had floated a roughly seven-mile underground loop through bedrock as one possible option, according to the West Central Tribune, underscoring just how few alternatives the tribe had before pursuing its own solar generation.
Attorney Joshua Peterson, who represents the Upper Sioux Community, said the solar array is already operational and that the tribe plans to turn it on as soon as possible. The case echoes a broader trend of tribal nations building their own power sources, including White Earth Nation's construction of a large solar array for one of its casinos backed by a roughly $3 million federal grant, and at least one other tribal nation reportedly forced to break up a megawatt-scale solar project into smaller pieces to fit within cooperative limits, according to Minnesota Public Radio.
