U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on June 18 issued emergency orders directing the Northern Indiana Public Service Company, CenterPoint Energy, and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. to take all measures necessary to ensure specified generation units at both the R.M. Schahfer and F.B. Culley generating stations in Indiana are available to operate.
Certain generation units at the coal plants were scheduled to shut down at the end of 2025.
Since the Department of Energy’s (DOE) original orders were issued on December 23, 2025, the coal plants have proven critical to MISO’s operations, operating during periods of high energy demand and low levels of intermittent energy production, including during Winter Storm Fern, DOE said.
The new orders are in effect beginning on June 22, 2026, through September 19, 2026.
