Minnesota’s largest coal plant once burned 30,000 tonnes daily; its existing wires now carry 710MW from 1.7 million solar panels powering about 150,000 homes

• America is retiring coal plants slowly and steadily.
• The boilers are cut up for scrap, the smokestacks get dropped on camera and the land tends to sit in permitting limbo for a decade.
• But in Becker, Minnesota, the state's biggest coal plant is being used, not for all this hardware but for a plug.