581st largest plant in Massachusetts · 12336th nationally
Amherst College Co Gen is a natural gas power plant in Massachusetts with a nameplate capacity of 1.2 MW. It generates roughly 5.2k MWh per year — enough to power about 497 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 50% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 599 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Amherst College Co Gen |
|---|---|
| Operator | Amherst College |
| City | Amherst |
| County | Hampshire County |
| State | Massachusetts |
| ZIP | 01002 |
| Coordinates | 42.37167, -72.51222 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CTG | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 1.2 MW | Operating | 2006 |
| STG | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 0.5 MW | Retired | 2006 |
| CO₂ | 1.6k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 4 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 599 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 | NPCC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Iso New England Inc. |
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.