46th largest plant in New Mexico · 3479th nationally
Chino Mines is a natural gas power plant in New Mexico with a nameplate capacity of 54.0 MW. It generates roughly 67.3k MWh per year — enough to power about 6,409 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 14% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1432 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 (54.0 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 | Chino Mines |
|---|---|
| Operator | Freeport-Mcmoran-Corp-Chino Mines |
| City | Hurley |
| County | Grant County |
| State | New Mexico |
| ZIP | 88043 |
| Coordinates | 32.69560, -108.12250 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 37.5 MW | Standby | 2001 |
| 8 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 30.0 MW | Retired | 1973 |
| 7 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 16.5 MW | Standby | 1959 |
| 5 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 10.0 MW | Retired | 1950 |
| 4 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 7.5 MW | Retired | 1930 |
| CO₂ | 48.2k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 33 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1432 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 | WECC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Public Service Company Of New Mexico |
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.