12th largest plant in North Carolina · 311th nationally
Asheville is a natural gas power plant in North Carolina with a nameplate capacity of 1,012 MW. It generates roughly 3.9M MWh per year — enough to power about 369,425 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 44% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 824 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 (1,012 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 | Asheville |
|---|---|
| Operator | Duke Energy Progress - (Nc) |
| City | Arden |
| County | Buncombe County |
| State | North Carolina |
| ZIP | 28704 |
| Coordinates | 35.47310, -82.54170 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GT2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 212 MW | Operating | 2000 |
| GT1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 212 MW | Operating | 1999 |
| 2 | Conventional Steam Coal | Bituminous Coal | 207 MW | Retired | 1971 |
| 1 | Conventional Steam Coal | Bituminous Coal | 207 MW | Retired | 1964 |
| CT5 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 191 MW | Operating | 2019 |
| CT7 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 191 MW | Operating | 2020 |
| ST6 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 103 MW | Operating | 2019 |
| ST8 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 103 MW | Operating | 2020 |
| CO₂ | 1.6M metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 8 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 398 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 824 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 | SERC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Duke Energy Progress East |
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.