DOE Order Allows 446 MW Craig Station Coal Plant to Operate
- Emergency & Local Government Policy & Markets Regulatory
Marin Holt
- 0
- 6 minutes read
- Plant Capacity: 446 MW
- Order Number: 202-26-21
- Location: Craig, Colorado
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued emergency Order No. 202-26-21 on March 30, 2026, directing that Unit 1 at the 446 MW Craig Station coal plant in Craig, Colorado remain available to operate. Issued under section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, the order runs from March 31, 2026 through June 28, 2026, according to DOE’s published list of 2026 Section 202(c) orders.
What Was Ordered
According to DOE, the order is directed to Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association along with Craig Station’s co-owners — Platte River Power Authority, Salt River Project, PacifiCorp, and Public Service Company of Colorado (Xcel Energy). It directs Tri-State and the co-owners, in coordination with the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) Rocky Mountain Region and the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), to take all measures necessary to keep Unit 1 available to operate.
Section 202(c) gives the Energy Secretary authority to require a generator to run during an emergency or anticipated reliability shortfall. DOE states the Craig Station order is one of more than 40 such Section 202(c) orders the department has issued during 2026, a pace that has kept aging coal and gas units online past their planned retirement or seasonal-availability dates across multiple grid regions.
Why It Matters
Craig Station Unit 1 had been slated to wind down as part of Tri-State’s coal-retirement plan. The 202(c) order keeps 446 MW of dispatchable capacity legally obligated to stand by through late June 2026, which DOE frames as necessary to ensure resource adequacy in the WAPA and SPP footprints during the spring shoulder season. For grid operators, the order converts a unit that was being retired into a must-offer resource, affecting unit-commitment and economic-dispatch decisions across the co-owners’ service areas.
The order also fits a broader 2026 pattern: DOE’s repeated use of emergency authority — for plants including J.H. Campbell in Michigan, Eddystone in Pennsylvania, and Wagner in Maryland — signals that reserve margins in several regions are tight enough that the department is intervening to delay thermal-plant closures rather than relying on the market and queue alone.
Critical Perspective
A 202(c) order forces a unit to run but does not resolve the underlying reliability gap that prompted it. The Craig order lasts only through June 28, 2026, raising the question of what fills the role once it lapses — an extension, a replacement resource, or a renewed shortfall. Keeping a retiring coal unit on emergency standby also carries cost and emissions consequences that are typically socialized to ratepayers, and the recurring nature of these orders in 2026 suggests the deeper issue is the speed at which firm replacement capacity and transmission are coming online relative to planned retirements.
Sources
- DOE — 2026 Section 202(c) Orders (Order No. 202-26-21, Craig Station Unit 1)
- POWER Magazine — DOE has issued more than 40 Section 202(c) orders in 2026
