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- Combustion
- Operating
- 10 · 100 · 1,000 MW
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- Combustion
- Operating
Colstrip: location. Basemap: Protomaps, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
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Power plant · Coal
Key facts
Power plant · Coalran 64% of 2025 Operating- Capacity
- Capacity: sourceEIA-860M · Open licenseMW
- Commissioned
- 1984
- Net generation, 2025
- 9,171,195 MWh
- Grid
- 500 kV, 230 kV to NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) (NWMT)
- Location
- Rosebud County, Montana
- Operated by
- Talen Montana LLC
Output
- Gas
- Coal
- Oil
Details
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- Technology
- Coal source: “Conventional Steam Coal”
- Age
- 42 years since 1984
- Unused energy
- 5,260 GWh 2025Unused energyA lead, not a guarantee: MW × hours × (1 − capacity factor) for the latest year (EIA-923), gas, coal and oil plants only. Air-permit run-hour caps, heat rate (cost to run) and capacity-market or reliability obligations can rule it out.
- Heat rate
- 10,837 Btu/kWh 2025
All 7 attributes from EIA-860M Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Gem |
|
| EPA greenhouse gas reporting (GHGRP) |
|
| Fuel burned (MMBtu), 2025 | 99,390,374 |
| Capacity factor, 2025 | 0.635 |
| Heat rate (Btu/kWh), 2025 | 10,837.2 |
| Net generation (MWh), 2025 | 9,171,195.0 |
| Balancing authority code | NWMT |
Retirement
EIA-860M September 2026StatusSome generators have retired; the rest of the plant is still in service. As of EIA-860M for September 2026.- Capacity retired
- 716 MW
- Generators retired
- 2
- Capacity still in service
- 1,647.4 MW
| Generator | Technology | Nameplate | State | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Conventional Steam Coal | 358 MW | Retired | January 2020 |
| 2 | Conventional Steam Coal | 358 MW | Retired | January 2020 |
Grid
EIA-860 2025Grid fieldsAs the plant reported them to EIA-860 for 2025 (Schedule 2).- Grid voltage at the plant
- 500 kV, 230 kV
- Transmission or distribution system owner
- NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT)
- Balancing authority
- NorthWestern Energy (NWMT)
- NERC region
- WECC
Transmission lines within 25 km (2)
Can the connection be reused?
A plant that retires usually leaves its substation, transmission connection and interconnection agreement behind, and those may be reusable by a new project at the same site. FERC Order No. 845 lets an interconnection customer use surplus interconnection service at an existing site, and some transmission providers' tariffs let a replacement resource take over a retiring unit's interconnection service, usually within a set time after the retirement. Whether any such right still exists here, who holds it and on what terms depends on the owner, the transmission provider and timing; this page does not establish any of that.
Ownership
10 companies13| Company | Role | Share | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talen Montana LLC | Owner | 15.0% | 31 Dec 2025 | EIA-860 |
| PacifiCorp | Owner | 10.0% | 31 Dec 2025 | EIA-860 |
| Portland General Electric Co | Owner | 20.0% | 31 Dec 2025 | EIA-860 |
| Avista Corp | Owner | 15.0% | 31 Dec 2025 | EIA-860 |
| NorthWestern Energy (MT Hydro) | Owner | 15.0% | 31 Dec 2025 | EIA-860 |
| BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC | Owner | 7.1% | 31 Dec 2023 | EPA GHGRP |
| PUGET HOLDINGS LLC | Owner | 32.3% | 31 Dec 2023 | EPA GHGRP |
| TALEN ENERGY CORP | Owner | 25.2% | 31 Dec 2023 | EPA GHGRP |
| Portland General Electric Co | Owner | 14.2% | 31 Dec 2023 | EPA GHGRP |
| Avista Corp | Owner | 10.6% | 31 Dec 2023 | EPA GHGRP |
| NORTHWESTERN CORP | Owner | 10.6% | 31 Dec 2023 | EPA GHGRP |
| Puget Sound Energy Inc | Owner | 25.0% | 31 Dec 2025 | EIA-860 |
| Talen Montana LLC | Operator | EIA-860M |
Timeline
- Stated Units 1, 2 scheduled to retire, 716 MW · EIA-860M
- In service · EIA-860M
Sources
7 sourcesSources EIA-860M · GEM · LBNL · EIA · EIA-860 Annual Electric Generator Report — Schedule 4 Owner (ownership shares per generator), plus Plant/Generator schedules · EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program — facility register with parent-company shares (Envirofacts pub_dim_facility; FLIGHT) · EIA-860M Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory
Sources
- EIA-860M Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory
- Global Energy Monitor — Global Integrated Power Tracker (unit-level power plants, eight technologies, all statuses)Global Integrated Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, September 2026 release (https://globalenergymonitor.org/projects/global-integrated-power-tracker), CC BY 4.0. Modified by Inframation: TransitionZero-sourced rows removed; statuses and technologies mapped to Inframation's vocabulary; figures aggregated. Copyright © Global Energy Monitor. Global Integrated Power Tracker, September 2026 release. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
- LBNL — A Harmonized Geospatial Dataset of U.S. Transmission Lines: Linking FERC Form 1 and HIFLD, 1994-2024 (OEDI submission 8742)Yin, Nait Belaid & Heleno (2026), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, OEDI, CC BY 4.0: A Harmonized Geospatial Dataset of U.S. Transmission Lines: Linking FERC Form 1 and HIFLD, 1994-2024. Modified by Inframation: HIFLD-side fields only, names re-cased, coordinates rounded.
- EIA Open Data bulk file — Electricity (ELEC.zip; monthly plant net generation and fuel consumption since 2001)Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electricity bulk data (Form EIA-923 monthly plant series)
- EIA-860 Annual Electric Generator Report — Schedule 4 Owner (ownership shares per generator), plus Plant/Generator schedules
- EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program — facility register with parent-company shares (Envirofacts pub_dim_facility; FLIGHT)
- EIA-860M Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory