52nd largest plant in California · 860th nationally
El Centro Hybrid is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 388 MW. It generates roughly 1.1M MWh per year — enough to power about 103,517 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 32% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1034 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 (388 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 | El Centro Hybrid |
|---|---|
| Operator | Imperial Irrigation District |
| City | El Centro |
| County | Imperial County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 92243 |
| Coordinates | 32.80222, -115.54000 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2A | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 89.9 MW | Operating | 1993 |
| 4 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 81.6 MW | Operating | 1968 |
| 30 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 65.9 MW | Operating | 2012 |
| 3 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 50.0 MW | Retired | 1957 |
| 31 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 43.2 MW | Operating | 2012 |
| 32 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 43.2 MW | Operating | 2012 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 34.5 MW | Operating | 1952 |
| BESS | Batteries | Battery | 30.0 MW | Operating | 2016 |
| CO₂ | 561.8k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 3 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 107 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1034 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 | Imperial Irrigation District |
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.