353rd largest plant in California · 3332nd nationally
El Cajon Energy Center is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 60.5 MW. It generates roughly 7.6k MWh per year — enough to power about 722 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 1% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1354 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | El Cajon Energy Center |
|---|---|
| Operator | Wellhead Services, Inc |
| City | El Cajon |
| County | San Diego County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 92020 |
| Coordinates | 32.79611, -116.97207 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEN1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 60.5 MW | Operating | 2010 |
| CO₂ | 5.1k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 1 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1354 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 | WECC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | California Independent System Operator |
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.