21st largest plant in New York · 558th nationally
Empire Generating Co Llc is a natural gas power plant in New York with a nameplate capacity of 654 MW. It generates roughly 3.0M MWh per year — enough to power about 288,768 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 53% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 886 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 (654 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 | Empire Generating Co Llc |
|---|---|
| Operator | Empire Generating Co Llc |
| City | Rensselaer |
| County | Rensselaer County |
| State | New York |
| ZIP | 12144 |
| Coordinates | 42.62524, -73.75002 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ST13 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 296 MW | Operating | 2010 |
| CT11 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 179 MW | Operating | 2010 |
| CT12 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 179 MW | Operating | 2010 |
| CO₂ | 1.3M metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 7 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 75 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 886 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 | NPCC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | New York 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.