US energy secretary allows Maryland power plant to exceed limits, avoid outages

Katharine Wilson, The Baltimore Sun on Aug 1, 2025

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BALTIMORE — U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued an emergency order that authorized an Anne Arundel County power plant to operate more often than typically allowed, including areas served by the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company — a feat that Maryland conservative lawmakers called “a major win.”

PJM Interconnection, which coordinates wholesale electricity across 13 states and Washington, D.C., requested that the department issue a waiver that allows Wagner Generating Station Unit 4 to keep energy flowing when necessary to meet demand for the next 90 days.

The power plant is typically permitted to operate up to 438 hours per year when burning fuel under a consent agreement with the Maryland Department of the Environment. The plant had 80 operating hours left this year when PJM reached out to Wright last week.

“This order reduces the threat of power outages during peak demand conditions for millions of Americans,” said Wright in a statement. “The Trump Administration remains committed to swiftly deploying all available tools and authorities to safeguard the reliability, affordability, and security of the nation’s energy system.”

Wright’s Monday order argued that not running the unit could “result in adverse reliability impacts to service in the Baltimore Gas and Electric (BG&E) territory, and within PJM’s service territory more broadly”.

The unit would need to be operational, the company argued in their application, when temperatures reach about 92 degrees.

The Maryland Freedom Caucus, a group of hard-right members of the state legislature, touted the order as a win. The caucus said they had called on President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Energy, Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, and the state legislature to intervene to keep plants open, as a part of the group’s demands to prevent blackouts across the state.

Trump has made promoting energy efficiency a focus in his second administration, including declaring a National Energy Emergency through an executive order on the first day of his second term. The president has argued that the United States should be less reliant on energy from other countries.

The group’s energy demands include intervening to keep the state’s existing power plants open, repealing “green energy extremist mandates,” and ending the Maryland EmPower program — which aims to help Marylanders conserve energy — and any fees associated with it.

“…We called on Governor Moore to get started and we promise, until our energy is reliable and affordable, we won’t stop until it is accomplished,” the group said on X.

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