Shakopee Energy Park: 14,000 square feet, one employee

Shakopee Valley News

Looking at the Shakopee Energy Park from the outside, one might think the scene inside is a bustling operation, with hundreds of employees and overwhelming noise.

The reality is much different. Inside, the engines hum quietly — they're designed that way on purpose, running at only 720 RPM, or what a car idles at. There aren't hundreds of employees or even two.

There's just Joel Ruen. He's the manager of distributed generation operations for Avant Energy, the company that the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency employs to manage their plants.

He's the site operator, the occasional mechanic, the security, the janitor, the manager and more. He's a one-man band of power production.

"I really dig responsibility," Ruen said. "I always have. You have responsibilities that you're supposed to take care of and if it doesn't get done, there's only one person at fault — you can't blame it on somebody else."

Ruen is able to single-handedly run the 46 megawatt, five-engine plant due to the automated system. Ruen monitors five computer screens and several laptops in a small control room, looking at the alarm systems on the engines, the camera security system, current prices of electricity, wind generation and a number of other screens, with technical language.

The Shakopee Energy Park isn't like other plants Ruen has worked for. This plant doesn't provide round-the-clock power to the surrounding areas. It's more of a backup plant, designed to keep electricity prices low and reliable energy should supply fall.

"If you have electricity at one or two at night or Thanksgiving or Christmas, there's a power plant operator somewhere operating a power plant," Ruen said. "I've worked night shifts before and I've worked Christmas and it's no fun. For this power plant, I don't think that's the aim or that's the goal."

When people flip a switch, they always assume the light will come on. They don't think about the different methods to produce power — coal, gas, water, wind — or that electricity is traded across the country, like stocks on Wall Street. 

Shakopee Energy Park helps keep these trading prices low. It's basic economics. When demand is high and therefore supply prices are high, the plant produces more electricity for the market, increasing supply and lowering prices for the MMPA communities, including Shakopee.

The park provides an extra source behind renewable energies, which depend on uncontrollable forces, namely the wind or sun.

"You have to be able to respond to the wind dying down and picking up, but you still want to make sure the customers have reliable electricity at the hospital, the bank, your home or the newspaper office," Ruen said.

Ruen moved to Minnesota in October after being recruited by Avant Energy specifically for this position. He and his wife, Becky, had just taken in a foreign exchange student from Spain at their home in Texas.

Becky stayed in Texas with the student. Then, she stayed to sell the house. She's still in Texas but will hopefully make the move to Minnesota in August, Ruen said. He's lived nearly 10 months in an apartment without his wife.

"It's been tough," Ruen said. "It's been a challenge, it really has. But it hasn't killed us so far. There's people who have to do harder stuff every day."

Fortunately, Ruen isn't alone in Minnesota. He grew up on a dairy farm in southeastern Minnesota, so he still has family nearby. Two of his three sons moved up with him for work and live with him. He jokes it might be better living alone because his sons are so messy.

"Holy cow," Ruen said. "But when I was 20 and a single guy, I'm sure I was messy too."

Ruen wanted to get back to Minnesota. So he took the job.

At the plant, sometimes Ruen will play "Texas red-dirt road" country or old rock music mixed in with the low hum of the engines to keep it from getting too monotonous. But since he's the only worker, there's plenty to do.

If a minor mechanical issue needs to be fixed, Ruen will do it. If a part is missing, Ruen will order it. If a spot is dirty, Ruen will clean it. And there's always technical manuals to read. During one dark, stormy night, Ruen was called in to check on the plant after lightning set off the alarm system.

Eventually, he'll have a backup so he's able to go on vacation or take a sick day. The training for the backup is happening right now.

Most days, he goes in at 7 a.m. and stays until around 5 p.m., but sometimes as late as 8 or 9 p.m. He puts in long days because he wants the plant to be successful.

"I really dig how it's kind of going back to how it was in the 50s, 60s and 70s, where each town had their own generation, whether it was a little coal plant or a little gas plant or a hydroelectric dam," Ruen said. "You had homegrown electricity."

Once the construction crews are completely done (the grand opening just happened for the plant, though it was operational in January), there will be fewer visitors. But Ruen hopes schools will bring students by.

"I get a kick out of talking to young kids and it's funny how teachers are becoming so interested in it and finding out about it," Ruen said.

The community should be proud of the energy park and what it means, he said.

"I get a feeling this is a great selling point for a community, to have their own electrical generation, their own plant in city limits that can provide homegrown power reliably," Ruen said. "I think it's a feather in the cap for the community."