29th largest plant in Louisiana · 972nd nationally
Dow St Charles Operations is a natural gas power plant in Louisiana with a nameplate capacity of 324 MW. It generates roughly 1.9M MWh per year — enough to power about 176,820 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 66% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 622 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below 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 | Dow St Charles Operations |
|---|---|
| Operator | Dow Chemical Co - St Charles |
| City | Taft |
| County | St Charles County |
| State | Louisiana |
| ZIP | 70057 |
| Coordinates | 29.98610, -90.44140 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CGN1 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 126 MW | Operating | 1996 |
| CGN2 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 126 MW | Operating | 1997 |
| CSTG | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 50.0 MW | Operating | 2002 |
| STG | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 22.0 MW | Operating | 1997 |
| CTG | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 10.0 MW | Retired | 1987 |
| IGT | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 9.6 MW | Retired | 1980 |
| CO₂ | 577.7k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 4 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 1.5k metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 622 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 | Midcontinent Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc.. |
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.