6th largest plant in South Dakota · 970th nationally
Deer Creek Station is a natural gas power plant in South Dakota with a nameplate capacity of 324 MW. It generates roughly 1.1M MWh per year — enough to power about 101,030 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 37% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 957 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 (324 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 | Deer Creek Station |
|---|---|
| Operator | Basin Electric Power Coop |
| City | White |
| County | Brookings County |
| State | South Dakota |
| ZIP | 57276 |
| Coordinates | 44.39624, -96.53332 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 170 MW | Operating | 2012 |
| 01 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 154 MW | Operating | 2012 |
| CO₂ | 507.7k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 3 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 46 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 957 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.