2025 snapshot
Washington's mix is still overwhelmingly hydro-led.
In 2025, hydro provided nearly two-thirds of the main generation lines tracked on the page. Gas, wind, and nuclear formed the next tier, while coal and solar were both much smaller.
Washington
Washington's power mix is hydro-dominant, while coal fades toward zero.
Washington is not a generic Western transition case. The state's annual generation totals are dominated by hydro, nuclear still matters, gas remains the main thermal balancing line, and coal had already become small before collapsing in the January 2026 monthly data.
Lead chart
How Washington's generation mix is changing
Washington's page should be read as a hydro state first. Coal is part of the story mainly because its final decline helps show how little coal the system still needs when hydro, nuclear, gas, and wind are all already in the mix.
Washington annual generation by fuel
Hydro
Gas
Wind
Nuclear
Coal
Solar
Washington's chart looks unlike Arizona or New Mexico: hydro is the major line, gas is important but secondary, nuclear still matters, and coal sits near the bottom of the stack by 2025.Source: EIA Electricity Data Browser
2025 hydro generation
65,170 GWh
2025 gas generation
16,296 GWh
2025 coal generation
3,160 GWh
Interpretation
Washington's coal story matters mainly because it is nearly over.
Coal is no longer a large generation block in Washington. The important analytical question now is whether the final coal output disappears cleanly while the rest of the system keeps running strongly, which the January 2026 numbers strongly suggest.
Pressure point
Coal is shrinking in annual terms and collapsing in the monthly data.
Washington coal generation fell from 5,053 thousand MWh in 2015 to 3,160 thousand MWh in 2025, a decline of about 37%. The more important signal now is that January 2026 coal generation fell to just 2 thousand MWh.
Washington coal generation, 2015 to 2025
Coal
Washington coal generation fell from 5,053 to 3,160 thousand MWh between 2015 and 2025, but the sharper signal may be the near-disappearance of coal in January 2026.Source: EIA Electricity Data Browser
Remaining Washington coal
Centralia is now the key coal-transition case.
| Plant | Coal role | Timing | Transition context |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centralia Unit 2 | Last large remaining Washington coal unit | DOE issued a section 202(c) emergency order on December 16, 2025 to keep the unit available through March 16, 2026. | Washington coal generation fell from 432 thousand MWh in January 2025 to 2 thousand MWh in January 2026, which suggests the unit may have stayed technically available without contributing meaningful generation. |
2026 so far
Year-to-date 2026 reinforces Washington's coal collapse and hydro rebound.
Through April, Washington coal is down to almost nothing, gas is sharply lower, and hydro is much higher than it was at the same point in 2025.
Year-to-date 2026 versus 2025 generation by fuel
Jan-Apr 2025
Jan-Apr 2026
Through April, Washington hydro is up about 8.8 TWh, gas is down about 2.5 TWh, and coal is down about 1.0 TWh from the same 2025 period.Source: EIA Electricity Data Browser
What stands out
The YTD signal is clearer than the annual one.
- Jan-Apr 2026 coal generation was 6 thousand MWh versus 1,046 thousand MWh in Jan-Apr 2025.
- Gas fell to 2,717 thousand MWh from 5,243 thousand MWh.
- Hydro rose to 30,897 thousand MWh from 22,075 thousand MWh, reinforcing how hydro-heavy Washington's system still is.
State structure
What still shapes Washington's power story
| Item | Type | Status | Timing | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia Generating Station | Nuclear | Operating | 7,749 GWh in 2025 | Washington remains unusual because its non-hydro clean backbone still includes a meaningful nuclear block. |
| Hydro system | Conventional hydro | Dominant in-state generation base | 65,170 GWh in 2025 | Hydro is the central reason Washington reads differently from Arizona and New Mexico in both annual totals and monthly swings. |
| Utility-scale solar | Solar | Still small but rising | 366 GWh in 2023 to 628 GWh in 2025 | Solar is not yet a defining Washington line, but it has moved out of the near-zero zone and now belongs on the chart. |
Method
How this page is built
The page uses repo-local EIA generation exports as the quantitative baseline and adds curated context only where it sharpens the Washington-specific interpretation.
Back to Western Grid
Return to the regional view and compare Washington's hydro-led structure with Arizona's gas-and-nuclear mix and New Mexico's wind-heavy profile.
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