130th largest plant in Texas · 903rd nationally
Ector County Energy Center is a natural gas power plant in Texas with a nameplate capacity of 359 MW. It generates roughly 425.6k MWh per year — enough to power about 40,535 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 14% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1387 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Ector County Energy Center |
|---|---|
| Operator | Ector County Generation, Llc |
| City | Goldsmith |
| County | Ector County |
| State | Texas |
| ZIP | 79741 |
| Coordinates | 32.06917, -102.58556 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CTG1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 179 MW | Operating | 2015 |
| CTG2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 179 MW | Operating | 2015 |
| CO₂ | 295.1k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 3 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 82 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1387 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 | TRE |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Electric Reliability Council Of Texas, 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.