24th largest plant in Washington · 1117th nationally
Ferndale Generating Station is a natural gas power plant in Washington with a nameplate capacity of 286 MW. It generates roughly 1.5M MWh per year — enough to power about 145,650 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 61% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 902 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 (286 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 | Ferndale Generating Station |
|---|---|
| Operator | Puget Sound Energy Inc |
| City | Ferndale |
| County | Whatcom County |
| State | Washington |
| ZIP | 98248 |
| Coordinates | 48.82900, -122.68511 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CT1A | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 95.9 MW | Operating | 1994 |
| CT1B | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 95.9 MW | Operating | 1994 |
| ST1 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 93.7 MW | Operating | 1994 |
| CO₂ | 689.8k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 13 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 143 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 902 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 | Puget Sound Energy |
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.