Energy Secretary Keeps Northwest Coal Generating Plant Online

WASHINGTON-U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright today issued an emergency order to keep affordable, reliable, and secure coal generation in the State of Washington online to help address critical grid reliability issues facing the Northwestern region of the United States. The emergency order directs TransAlta Centralia Generation, LLC (TransAlta) to ensure that Unit 2 of the Centralia Generating Station in Centralia, Washington, a coal-fired power plant, remains available to operate. Centralia Unit 2 was scheduled to shut down at the end of 2025.

"America needs more reliable power, not less, and today's order will help ensure reliable electricity generation remains available to help address periods of peak demand," said Secretary Wright. "The Trump Administration remains committed to reversing the misguided energy subtraction policies it inherited from past leaders. Instead, we are advancing energy addition and expanding the American people's access to affordable, reliable, and secure electricity. Similar actions preventing the premature shutdown of reliable power generation have prevented blackouts and likely saved lives."

Thanks to President Trump's leadership, coal generating plants across the country are being saved from premature retirement. For example, in 2025, more than 17 gigawatts of coal-power electricity generation were saved from going offline.

The availability of Centralia to operate will continue to be an asset to maintain reliability in the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) Northwest region and is necessary to address elevated reliability risks in the WECC-Northwest region during extreme weather and reduce the risk of power outages that could threaten public health and safety.

As outlined in DOE's Resource Adequacy Report, premature retirements of reliable generation resources increase the risk of power outages.

This order is in effect beginning on September 13, 2026, through December 11, 2026.