6th largest plant in Virginia · 158th nationally
Brunswick County Power Station is a natural gas power plant in Virginia with a nameplate capacity of 1,472 MW. It generates roughly 6.3M MWh per year — enough to power about 603,584 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 49% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 835 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 (1,472 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 | Brunswick County Power Station |
|---|---|
| Operator | Virginia Electric & Power Co |
| City | Freeman |
| County | Brunswick County |
| State | Virginia |
| ZIP | 23856 |
| Coordinates | 36.76500, -77.71389 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ST01 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 580 MW | Operating | 2016 |
| CT01 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 298 MW | Operating | 2016 |
| CT02 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 298 MW | Operating | 2016 |
| CT03 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 298 MW | Operating | 2016 |
| CO₂ | 2.6M metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 13 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 129 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 835 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 | 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.