11th largest plant in Florida · 56th nationally
Big Bend is a natural gas power plant in Florida with a nameplate capacity of 2,275 MW. It generates roughly 4.8M MWh per year — enough to power about 459,174 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 24% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1369 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 (2,275 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 | Big Bend |
|---|---|
| Operator | Tampa Electric Co |
| City | Apollo Beach |
| County | Hillsborough County |
| State | Florida |
| ZIP | 33572 |
| Coordinates | 27.79440, -82.40360 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ST4 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 486 MW | Operating | 1985 |
| ST1 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 446 MW | Operating | 1970 |
| ST2 | Conventional Steam Coal | Bituminous Coal | 446 MW | Retired | 1973 |
| ST3 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 446 MW | Retired | 1976 |
| GT5 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 398 MW | Operating | 2021 |
| GT6 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 398 MW | Operating | 2021 |
| GT2 | Petroleum Liquids | Distillate Oil | 78.7 MW | Retired | 1974 |
| GT3 | Petroleum Liquids | Distillate Oil | 78.7 MW | Retired | 1974 |
| GT4 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 69.9 MW | Operating | 2009 |
| 1 | Solar Photovoltaic | Solar | 19.8 MW | Operating | 2017 |
| GT1 | Petroleum Liquids | Distillate Oil | 18.0 MW | Retired | 1969 |
| BESS1 | Batteries | Battery | 12.6 MW | Operating | 2017 |
| CO₂ | 3.3M metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 616 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 1.3k metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1369 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 | Tampa Electric 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.