5th largest plant in New Mexico · 718th nationally
Cunningham is a natural gas power plant in New Mexico with a nameplate capacity of 519 MW. It generates roughly 1.3M MWh per year — enough to power about 123,297 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 28% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1474 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 (519 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 | Cunningham |
|---|---|
| Operator | Southwestern Public Service Co |
| City | Hobbs |
| County | Lea County |
| State | New Mexico |
| ZIP | 88240 |
| Coordinates | 32.71310, -103.35330 |
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 Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 190 MW | Operating | 1965 |
| 3 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 127 MW | Operating | 1998 |
| 4 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 127 MW | Operating | 1998 |
| 1 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 75.0 MW | Retired | 1957 |
| CO₂ | 954.0k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 5 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 810 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1474 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 | Southwest Power Pool |
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.