13th largest plant in Texas · 150th nationally
Cedar Bayou is a natural gas power plant in Texas with a nameplate capacity of 1,530 MW. It generates roughly 2.9M MWh per year — enough to power about 280,032 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 22% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1273 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 (1,530 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 | Cedar Bayou |
|---|---|
| Operator | Nrg Texas Power Llc |
| City | Baytown |
| County | Chambers County |
| State | Texas |
| ZIP | 77523 |
| Coordinates | 29.75000, -94.92560 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 765 MW | Operating | 1970 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 765 MW | Operating | 1972 |
| 3 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 765 MW | Retired | 1974 |
| CO₂ | 1.9M metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 9 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 1.1k metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1273 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 | TRE |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Electric Reliability Council Of Texas, 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.