Power plants in Tennessee emit a combined 25.6M metric tons of CO₂ per year. The table below ranks the top emitters — predominantly coal and natural gas plants. Emission rates vary widely even within the same fuel type: efficient combined-cycle gas plants produce roughly 900 lb CO₂/MWh, while older coal plants can exceed 2,200 lb/MWh.
Emissions data comes from the EPA eGRID program. Zero-emission sources (nuclear, solar, wind, hydro) are excluded from this ranking. For methodology details, see the methodology page.
| # | Plant | State | Fuel | CO₂ (tons/yr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cumberland (Tn) | Tennessee | Coal | 10.3M |
| 2 | Gallatin (Tn) | Tennessee | Coal | 4.6M |
| 3 | Kingston | Tennessee | Coal | 3.2M |
| 4 | Allen | Tennessee | Natural Gas | 2.1M |
| 5 | John Sevier | Tennessee | Natural Gas | 1.9M |
| 6 | Lagoon Creek | Tennessee | Natural Gas | 1.3M |
| 7 | Bull Run | Tennessee | Coal | 901.6k |
| 8 | Johnsonville | Tennessee | Natural Gas | 493.1k |
| 9 | Primient Loudon Plant | Tennessee | Natural Gas | 266.6k |
| 10 | Gleason Generating Facility | Tennessee | Natural Gas | 210.2k |
| 11 | Brownsville Peaking Power | Tennessee | Natural Gas | 115.7k |
| 12 | Packaging Corp Of America | Tennessee | Biomass | 29.0k |
| 13 | Vanderbilt University Power Plant | Tennessee | Natural Gas | 27.8k |
| 14 | Mtsu Power Co-Gen Plant | Tennessee | Natural Gas | 13.7k |
| 15 | University Of Tennessee Steam Plant | Tennessee | Natural Gas | 11.0k |
| 16 | Opryland Usa | Tennessee | Natural Gas | 9.0k |
| 17 | Mcminnville | Tennessee | Oil | 122 |
| 18 | Powell Valley | Tennessee | Oil | 72 |
PowerPlantsNearMe.com. (2026). Most Polluting Power Plants in Tennessee. Derived from EIA Form 860, EIA Form 923, and EPA eGRID. Retrieved from https://powerplantsnearme.com/most-polluting-power-plants/tennessee
Click the citation to select it for copying. For bulk data, see the data downloads page.