8th largest plant in Idaho · 1729th nationally
Bennett Mountain is a natural gas power plant in Idaho with a nameplate capacity of 173 MW. It generates roughly 725.6k MWh per year — enough to power about 69,109 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 48% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 1235 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Bennett Mountain |
|---|---|
| Operator | Idaho Power Co |
| City | Mountain Home |
| County | Elmore County |
| State | Idaho |
| ZIP | 83647 |
| Coordinates | 43.14715, -115.66664 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 173 MW | Operating | 2005 |
| FT01 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 170 MW | Cancelled | — |
| FT03 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 50.0 MW | Cancelled | — |
| CO₂ | 448.0k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 2 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 118 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1235 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 | Idaho Power Company |
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.