29th largest plant in Colorado · 1344th nationally
Fountain Valley Power Facility is a natural gas power plant in Colorado with a nameplate capacity of 228 MW. It generates roughly 76.7k MWh per year — enough to power about 7,306 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 4% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1380 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Fountain Valley Power Facility |
|---|---|
| Operator | Fountain Valley Power Llc |
| City | Fountain |
| County | El Paso County |
| State | Colorado |
| ZIP | 80817 |
| Coordinates | 38.55690, -104.68750 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 38.0 MW | Operating | 2001 |
| S2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 38.0 MW | Operating | 2001 |
| S3 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 38.0 MW | Operating | 2001 |
| S4 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 38.0 MW | Operating | 2001 |
| S5 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 38.0 MW | Operating | 2001 |
| S6 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 38.0 MW | Operating | 2001 |
| CO₂ | 52.9k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 44 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1380 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.