Centralia coal plant to burn natural gas instead
Washington state’s last coal plant, which was scheduled to close at the end of this year in Centralia, will be converted to burn natural gas.
Power generation company TransAlta announced Wednesday the facility, which will have a capacity of 700 megawatts, will be converted in partnership with the state’s largest utility, Puget Sound Energy.
The deal will give PSE exclusive rights to the plant’s energy generation. The plant is scheduled to come online in late 2028 and operate through 2044, according to TransAlta. The price of the conversion is estimated at $600 million and the agreement between TransAlta and PSE is subject to review by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, according to the company.
According to PSE spokesperson Christina Donegan, the plant will meet about half of the utility’s 2030 summer peak demand needs and about 30% of the utilities expected 2030 winter peak demand needs.
The coal plant was originally scheduled to close by the end of this year in accordance with a 2011 agreement between the state and TransAlta, which is based in Calgary, Alberta. The company has owned and operated the 11,000-acre property since 2000.
The coal plant’s second unit has around 670 megawatts of capacity, according to TransAlta, though PSE has relied on the plant for around 370 megawatts.
According to TransAlta, the conversion to natural gas, which is mostly methane, will lower the emission intensity profile of the facility. The coal-fired power plant has been the state’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
The announcement comes as increasing electricity demand and coal retirements across the Northwest have driven up the risk of rolling blackouts during extreme weather events like cold snaps and heat waves due to insufficient power generation.
All Washington state utilities are also required to stop using coal-fired electricity after this year, which is required by the Clean Energy Transformation Act. The landmark climate law also calls for utilities to become greenhouse gas “neutral” by 2030 and have emission-free electricity by 2045 or risk steep fines.
While Puget Sound Energy has been ramping up renewables, adding resources like the Beaver Creek wind farm in Montana, only around 50% of the utilities electricity came from renewables in 2024 and is below target to meet the state’s clean energy goals.