60th largest plant in Wyoming · 6210th nationally
Big Sand Draw Plant is a natural gas power plant in Wyoming with a nameplate capacity of 8.0 MW. It generates roughly 39.3k MWh per year — enough to power about 3,747 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 56% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 879 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Big Sand Draw Plant |
|---|---|
| Operator | Denbury Inc |
| City | Riverton |
| County | Fremont County |
| State | Wyoming |
| ZIP | 82501 |
| Coordinates | 42.75270, -108.16970 |
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 Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 1.6 MW | Operating | 2015 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 1.6 MW | Operating | 2015 |
| 4 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 1.6 MW | Operating | 2015 |
| 5 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 1.6 MW | Operating | 2015 |
| 6 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 1.6 MW | Operating | 2015 |
| CO₂ | 17.3k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 411 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 879 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 | Western Area Power Administration - Rocky Mountain Region |
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.