39th largest plant in Texas · 348th nationally
Baytown Energy Center is a natural gas power plant in Texas with a nameplate capacity of 933 MW. It generates roughly 5.1M MWh per year — enough to power about 481,078 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 62% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 730 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
Ghost bars are each month's theoretical maximum (933 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 | Baytown Energy Center |
|---|---|
| Operator | Baytown Energy Center Llc |
| City | Baytown |
| County | Chambers County |
| State | Texas |
| ZIP | 77520 |
| Coordinates | 29.77310, -94.90190 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STG1 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 275 MW | Operating | 2002 |
| CTG1 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 219 MW | Operating | 2002 |
| CTG2 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 219 MW | Operating | 2002 |
| CTG3 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 219 MW | Operating | 2002 |
| CO₂ | 1.8M metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 9 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 157 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 730 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 | TRE |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Electric Reliability Council Of Texas, 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.