41st largest plant in Missouri · 2184th nationally
Essex is a natural gas power plant in Missouri with a nameplate capacity of 121 MW. It generates roughly 74.3k MWh per year — enough to power about 7,075 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 7% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1454 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Essex |
|---|---|
| Operator | Associated Electric Coop, Inc |
| City | Essex |
| County | Stoddard County |
| State | Missouri |
| ZIP | 63846 |
| Coordinates | 36.86821, -89.84017 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 121 MW | Operating | 1999 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 108 MW | Cancelled | — |
| CO₂ | 54.0k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 45 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1454 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 | Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc. |
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.