56th largest plant in Colorado · 2445th nationally
Fort Lupton is a natural gas power plant in Colorado with a nameplate capacity of 101 MW. It generates roughly 2.2k MWh per year — enough to power about 208 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 0% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 5456 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Fort Lupton |
|---|---|
| Operator | Public Service Co Of Colorado |
| City | Ft. Lupton |
| County | Weld County |
| State | Colorado |
| ZIP | 80621 |
| Coordinates | 40.09220, -104.79600 |
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 | 50.4 MW | Operating | 1972 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 50.4 MW | Operating | 1972 |
| CO₂ | 6.0k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 16 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 5456 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 | Public Service Company Of Colorado |
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.