17th largest plant in Kentucky · 1128th nationally
Big Sandy is a natural gas power plant in Kentucky with a nameplate capacity of 281 MW. It generates roughly 1.2M MWh per year — enough to power about 111,656 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 48% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 1190 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 (281 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 Sandy |
|---|---|
| Operator | Kentucky Power Co |
| City | Louisa |
| County | Lawrence County |
| State | Kentucky |
| ZIP | 41230 |
| Coordinates | 38.17070, -82.61760 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Conventional Steam Coal | Bituminous Coal | 816 MW | Retired | 1969 |
| 1 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 281 MW | Operating | 1963 |
| CO₂ | 697.4k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 30 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 981 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1190 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 | RFC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Pjm Interconnection, Llc |
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.