25th largest plant in Virginia · 859th nationally
Elizabeth River Power Station is a natural gas power plant in Virginia with a nameplate capacity of 389 MW. It generates roughly 109.2k MWh per year — enough to power about 10,397 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 3% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1431 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Elizabeth River Power Station |
|---|---|
| Operator | Virginia Electric & Power Co |
| City | Chesapeake |
| County | Chesapeake City County |
| State | Virginia |
| ZIP | 23323 |
| Coordinates | 36.77500, -76.30830 |
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 | 130 MW | Standby | 1992 |
| GEN2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 130 MW | Standby | 1992 |
| GEN3 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 130 MW | Standby | 1992 |
| CO₂ | 78.1k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 85 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1431 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 | Pjm Interconnection, Llc |
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.