The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday directed TransAlta Centralia Generation to ensure that the 730-MW unit 2 at the Centralia Generating Station in Washington remains available for operations. It is the last coal plant in Washington state.
Unit 1 was retired in 2020; unit 2 had been slated to retire at the end of 2025. DOE’s Friday move is the third order it has issued under the Federal Power Act’s section 202(c) to keep the Northwestern coal plant online.
“Taking reliable generation off the grid compromises energy reliability and needlessly raises energy costs for Americans,” Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in a statement. “During peak summer demand, Northwesterners deserve continued access to affordable, reliable, and secure energy to power and cool their homes.”
The Trump administration has been using 202(c) orders to keep a slate of coal plants from retiring, but it is unclear if the plants are necessary for reliability, and clean energy advocates say they are not economical. The Sierra Club in March concluded that a series of 90-day orders to keep six coal plants from retiring had cost Americans more than $230 million.
DOE issued 16 202(c) orders in 2025 and this year has already issued 35.
In March, during the company’s first-quarter earnings presentation, TransAlta President and CEO John Kousinioris told analysts that that the company was complying with DOE’s order but did not expect the plant to actually run due to the region’s flush hydropower.
DOE has faced lawsuits over its orders to keep coal plants running, with Washington state and advocacy organizations arguing in their suit that there is no emergency requiring the plants to remain available.
The agency, in a March brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, argued the Federal Power Act’s text grants the agency “discretion to determine that an emergency exists,” but its definition of an emergency importantly “does not require imminence or an unexpected development.”
DOE’s Friday order for the Centralia plant will be in effect through Sept. 12.
