Most Efficient U.S. Power Plants by Capacity Factor

Capacity factor measures how much electricity a plant actually generates compared to its theoretical maximum if it ran at full power 24/7/365. A plant with 95% capacity factor is running nearly non-stop. Nuclear plants routinely lead this metric, followed by geothermal and some natural gas baseload units.

This ranking includes only plants with at least 100 MW of nameplate capacity to filter out small peaking units. Solar and wind plants typically have capacity factors of 20–45% — not because they're inefficient, but because the sun sets and wind varies. A low capacity factor doesn't mean poor engineering; it reflects the physics of the fuel source.

#	Plant	State	Fuel	Capacity Factor
1	Harris	North Carolina	Nuclear	103.4%
2	H B Robinson	South Carolina	Nuclear	99.4%
3	Cooper Nuclear Station	Nebraska	Nuclear	98.7%
4	Davis Besse	Ohio	Nuclear	98.5%
5	Limerick	Pennsylvania	Nuclear	95.7%
6	James A Fitzpatrick	New York	Nuclear	95.3%
7	Oconee	South Carolina	Nuclear	95.2%
8	Lasalle Generating Station	Illinois	Nuclear	94.9%
9	Joseph M Farley	Alabama	Nuclear	94.8%
10	Orlando Cogen Lp	Florida	Natural Gas	94.7%
11	Braidwood Generation Station	Illinois	Nuclear	93.7%
12	Eagle Valley (In)	Indiana	Natural Gas	93.6%
13	Surry	Virginia	Nuclear	93.2%
14	Grand Gulf	Mississippi	Nuclear	93.2%
15	Donald C Cook	Michigan	Nuclear	93.1%
16	Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station	New York	Nuclear	93.1%
17	Beaver Valley	Pennsylvania	Nuclear	92.8%
18	Arkansas Nuclear One	Arkansas	Nuclear	92.6%
19	Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant	Maryland	Nuclear	92.4%
20	North Anna	Virginia	Nuclear	92.2%
21	Allegheny Energy Units 3 4 & 5	Pennsylvania	Natural Gas	92.0%
22	South Texas Project	Texas	Nuclear	91.8%
23	Browns Ferry	Alabama	Nuclear	91.3%
24	Catawba	South Carolina	Nuclear	90.8%
25	Wolf Creek Generating Station	Kansas	Nuclear	90.7%
26	Byron Generating Station	Illinois	Nuclear	90.7%
27	Coyote Springs Ii	Oregon	Natural Gas	90.0%
28	Sequoyah	Tennessee	Nuclear	89.9%
29	Brunswick Nuclear	North Carolina	Nuclear	89.2%
30	Robert Moses Power Dam	New York	Hydroelectric	89.2%
31	Comanche Peak	Texas	Nuclear	88.8%
32	Edwin I Hatch	Georgia	Nuclear	88.6%
33	Pseg Salem Generating Station	New Jersey	Nuclear	88.2%
34	Peach Bottom	Pennsylvania	Nuclear	88.1%
35	Pseg Hope Creek Generating Station	New Jersey	Nuclear	87.9%
36	Seabrook	New Hampshire	Nuclear	87.6%
37	Michigan Power Lp	Michigan	Natural Gas	87.3%
38	Fayette Energy Facility	Pennsylvania	Natural Gas	87.2%
39	Diablo Canyon	California	Nuclear	87.1%
40	St Lucie	Florida	Nuclear	87.0%
41	R E Ginna Nuclear Power Plant	New York	Nuclear	86.4%
42	Gary Works	Indiana	Other Fossil	86.4%
43	Dresden Generating Station	Illinois	Nuclear	86.4%
44	Quad Cities Generating Station	Illinois	Nuclear	85.8%
45	Talenenergy Susquehanna	Pennsylvania	Nuclear	85.7%
46	Palo Verde	Arizona	Nuclear	85.5%
47	Callaway	Missouri	Nuclear	84.8%
48	Mcguire	North Carolina	Nuclear	84.5%
49	Point Beach Nuclear Plant	Wisconsin	Nuclear	84.3%
50	Long Ridge Energy Generation	Ohio	Natural Gas	84.3%

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PowerPlantsNearMe.com. (2026). Most Efficient U.S. Power Plants by Capacity Factor. Derived from EIA Form 860, EIA Form 923, and EPA eGRID. Retrieved from https://powerplantsnearme.com/highest-capacity-factor

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Most Efficient U.S. Power Plants by Capacity Factor

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