Centralia Gas

Centralia Gas, or Big Hanaford Plant (BHP) as it is known locally, is a 248-megawatt natural gas combined-cycle facility that is located at the same location as TransAlta's 1,340-megawatt coal-fired plant in Centralia, Washington.

Combined cycle technology generates power in two ways:

• The plant is configured with four gas turbines, the same used in aircraft engines, which generate up to 180 megawatts in ‘simple-cycle’ mode.
• Waste heat from the gas turbines is then used to produce steam which, in turn, powers a steam turbine for an additional 68 megawatts of electricity. This is the 'combined-cycle.'