13th largest plant in California · 362nd nationally
Aes Huntington Beach Llc is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 917 MW. It generates roughly 3.2M MWh per year — enough to power about 305,960 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 40% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 871 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
Ghost bars are each month's theoretical maximum (917 MW nameplate × hours in the month). Filled bars are actual net generation reported to EIA Form 923. The gap between them is capacity factor made visible.
| Plant Name | Aes Huntington Beach Llc |
|---|---|
| Operator | Aes Huntington Beach Llc |
| City | Huntington Beach |
| County | Orange County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 92646 |
| Coordinates | 33.64390, -117.97920 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 227 MW | Retired | 1961 |
| 3 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 225 MW | Retired | 1961 |
| 1 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 218 MW | Retired | 1958 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 218 MW | Operating | 1958 |
| 5 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 133 MW | Retired | 1969 |
| Owner | Location | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Edison Mission Energy | Rosemead, CA | 10000.0% |
Ownership reported to EIA Form 860. Percentages reflect reported generator-level ownership share, averaged when a plant has multiple generators.
| CO₂ | 1.4M metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 7 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 77 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 871 lb/MWh |
Annual totals and CO₂ rate reported by EPA eGRID for 2023. Reference averages are approximate U.S.-wide figures from the same dataset.
| NERC Region | WECC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | California Independent System Operator |
Natural gas plants are the workhorse of the modern grid. Combined-cycle units achieve very high efficiency and can ramp up and down quickly to balance variable renewables. They emit roughly half the CO₂ per MWh of coal and far less of other pollutants, but they still release upstream methane during fuel extraction.