23rd largest plant in Georgia · 697th nationally
Chattahoochee Energy Facility is a natural gas power plant in Georgia with a nameplate capacity of 540 MW. It generates roughly 3.5M MWh per year — enough to power about 336,485 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 75% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 817 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 (540 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 | Chattahoochee Energy Facility |
|---|---|
| Operator | Oglethorpe Power Corporation |
| City | Franklin |
| County | Heard County |
| State | Georgia |
| ZIP | 30217 |
| Coordinates | 33.40720, -85.03860 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 188 MW | Operating | 2003 |
| 1 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 176 MW | Operating | 2003 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 176 MW | Operating | 2003 |
| CO₂ | 1.4M metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 7 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 113 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 817 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 | Southern Company Services, Inc. - Trans |
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.