Availability is the order. Continuous run is not
TransAlta Corporation (TSX: TA, NYSE: TAC) said September 14 that TransAlta Centralia Generation LLC received an order from the United States Department of Energy. The order mandates that Centralia Unit 2 in Washington State remain available for operation for 90 days, until December 12, 2026. TransAlta said that once the order is in effect it will continue to comply and will work with the Department of Energy and the Washington state government.
DOE Order No. 202-26-44 was issued September 11 under section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act. The department's docket says the order is in effect beginning September 13 through December 11 and directs TransAlta to keep the 729.9-megawatt coal-fired unit available at the direction of Gridforce Energy Management or the Southwest Power Pool Western Reliability Coordinator. The order does not require the unit to run around the clock.
Unit 2 began operations in 1973. Unit 1 retired in 2020. Unit 2 was slated to cease operations in December 2025 under a 2011 Washington coal-transition law. Earlier 202(c) orders kept the unit available through March 16, June 14, and September 12, 2026. This is another extension, not a new plant.
This is a U.S. emergency-availability file. It does not change TransAlta's Alberta merchant book or the Mountain Peak and Canyon Peak Colorado gas plants.
Neutral read
TA is on the listed utilities list. Banks were skipped. A 90-day availability order and a 729.9-megawatt coal unit that was supposed to stop in December 2025 are the facts. Write this as a federal keep-available directive, not as a restart of a retired plant. Watch whether DOE extends again in December and how Washington's challenge to the 202(c) series proceeds.