76th largest plant in Texas · 621st nationally
Elk Station is a natural gas power plant in Texas with a nameplate capacity of 599 MW. It generates roughly 934.4k MWh per year — enough to power about 88,993 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 18% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1241 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Elk Station |
|---|---|
| Operator | Golden Spread Electric Cooperative, Inc |
| City | Abernathy |
| County | Hale County |
| State | Texas |
| ZIP | 79311 |
| Coordinates | 33.86500, -101.84333 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELK1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 200 MW | Operating | 2015 |
| ELK2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 200 MW | Operating | 2016 |
| ELK3 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 200 MW | Operating | 2016 |
| ELK4 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 200 MW | Approved | — |
| CO₂ | 579.6k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 16 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 1.6k metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1241 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 | MRO |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Southwest Power Pool |
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.