14th largest plant in New Mexico · 1110th nationally
Afton Generating Station is a natural gas power plant in New Mexico with a nameplate capacity of 287 MW. It generates roughly 1.4M MWh per year — enough to power about 136,617 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 57% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 881 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 (287 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 | Afton Generating Station |
|---|---|
| Operator | Public Service Co Of Nm |
| City | La Mesa |
| County | Dona Ana County |
| State | New Mexico |
| ZIP | 88044 |
| Coordinates | 32.11418, -106.84648 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0001 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 177 MW | Operating | 2002 |
| 0003 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 177 MW | Cancelled | — |
| 0002 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 110 MW | Operating | 2007 |
| CO₂ | 631.6k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 3 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 83 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 881 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 | Public Service Company Of New Mexico |
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.