10th largest plant in West Virginia · 910th nationally
Big Sandy Peaker Plant is a natural gas power plant in West Virginia with a nameplate capacity of 353 MW. It generates roughly 325.0k MWh per year — enough to power about 30,948 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 10% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1326 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Big Sandy Peaker Plant |
|---|---|
| Operator | Middle River Power Ii, Llc |
| City | Kenona |
| County | Wayne County |
| State | West Virginia |
| ZIP | 25530 |
| Coordinates | 38.34410, -82.59380 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BSG1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 58.9 MW | Operating | 2001 |
| BSG2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 58.9 MW | Operating | 2001 |
| BSG3 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 58.9 MW | Operating | 2001 |
| BSG4 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 58.9 MW | Operating | 2001 |
| BSG5 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 58.9 MW | Operating | 2001 |
| BSG6 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 58.9 MW | Operating | 2001 |
| CO₂ | 215.4k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 1 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 199 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1326 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.