Carson Ice-Gen Project

🔥 Natural GasElectric Utility125 MW capacity

212th largest plant in California · 2149th nationally

Carson Ice-Gen Project is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 126 MW. It generates roughly 152.4k MWh per year — enough to power about 14,514 average U.S. homes.

Its capacity factor of 14% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 860 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.

PeakingMid-meritBaseload0%40%80%100%14%
Peaking — intermittent or backup

Month by month in 2024

100% capacity0JFMAMJun: 13.1k MWh (15% of capacity)JJul: 24.8k MWh (27% of capacity)JAug: 13.1k MWh (14% of capacity)ASep: 12.6k MWh (14% of capacity)SOct: 13.9k MWh (15% of capacity)ONov: 3.8k MWh (4% of capacity)NDec: 15.7k MWh (17% of capacity)D

Ghost bars are each month's theoretical maximum (126 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.

Capacity126 MWnameplate
Annual Generation152.4k MWhEPA eGRID
Capacity Factor14%of theoretical max
Annual CO₂65.5kmetric tons

Location

Plant NameCarson Ice-Gen Project
OperatorSacramento Municipal Util Dist
CitySacramento
CountySacramento County
StateCalifornia
ZIP95758
Coordinates38.44568, -121.46239

This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.

Natural GasSolar

Generators (3)

IDTechnologyFuelCapacityStatusOnline
1Natural Gas Fired Combustion TurbineNatural Gas54.0 MWOperating1995
CCCTNatural Gas Fired Combined CycleNatural Gas54.0 MWOperating1995
2Natural Gas Fired Combined CycleNatural Gas17.5 MWOperating1995

Ownership

OwnerLocationShare
Central Valley Financing AuthSacramento, CA10000.0%

Ownership reported to EIA Form 860. Percentages reflect reported generator-level ownership share, averaged when a plant has multiple generators.

Emissions (annual)

CO₂65.5k metric tons
NOₓ4 metric tons
CO₂ Rate860 lb/MWh
U.S. grid average800 lb/MWhThis plant859 lb/MWhNatural gas combined-cycle average900 lb/MWhCoal plant average2,100 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.

Grid context

NERC RegionWECC
Balancing AuthorityBalancing Authority Of Northern California

About Natural Gas plants

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.

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