4th largest plant in Massachusetts · 381st nationally
Fore River Generating Station is a natural gas power plant in Massachusetts with a nameplate capacity of 872 MW. It generates roughly 2.2M MWh per year — enough to power about 210,206 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 29% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 883 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 (872 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 | Fore River Generating Station |
|---|---|
| Operator | Calpine Fore River Energy Center, Llc |
| City | North Weymouth |
| County | Norfolk County |
| State | Massachusetts |
| ZIP | 02191 |
| Coordinates | 42.24220, -70.96610 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ST15 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 315 MW | Operating | 2003 |
| GT11 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 279 MW | Operating | 2003 |
| GT12 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 279 MW | Operating | 2003 |
| CO₂ | 974.4k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 5 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 60 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 883 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 | Iso New England 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.