53rd largest plant in Minnesota · 2749th nationally
Cascade Creek is a natural gas power plant in Minnesota with a nameplate capacity of 84.9 MW. It generates roughly 38.7k MWh per year — enough to power about 3,681 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 5% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1154 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Cascade Creek |
|---|---|
| Operator | Rochester Public Utilities |
| City | Rochester |
| County | Olmsted County |
| State | Minnesota |
| ZIP | 55901 |
| Coordinates | 44.03220, -92.49080 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 49.9 MW | Operating | 2002 |
| 1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 35.0 MW | Operating | 1975 |
| CO₂ | 22.3k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 1 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 41 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1154 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 | MRO |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Midcontinent Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc.. |
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.