19th largest plant in North Carolina · 466th nationally
Cleveland Cnty Generating Facility is a natural gas power plant in North Carolina with a nameplate capacity of 736 MW. It generates roughly 640.9k MWh per year — enough to power about 61,033 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 10% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1224 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Cleveland Cnty Generating Facility |
|---|---|
| Operator | Southern Power Co |
| City | Kings Mountain |
| County | Cleveland County |
| State | North Carolina |
| ZIP | 28086 |
| Coordinates | 35.17055, -81.41665 |
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 Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 184 MW | Operating | 2012 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 184 MW | Operating | 2012 |
| 3 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 184 MW | Operating | 2012 |
| 4 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 184 MW | Operating | 2012 |
| 5 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 184 MW | Cancelled | — |
| 6 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 184 MW | Cancelled | — |
| 7 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 184 MW | Cancelled | — |
| 8 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 184 MW | Cancelled | — |
| CO₂ | 392.2k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 2 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 99 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1224 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 | Duke Energy Carolinas |
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.