8th largest plant in Colorado · 675th nationally
Front Range Power Plant is a natural gas power plant in Colorado with a nameplate capacity of 554 MW. It generates roughly 2.0M MWh per year — enough to power about 192,105 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 42% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 951 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 (554 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 | Front Range Power Plant |
|---|---|
| Operator | City Of Colorado Springs - (Co) |
| City | Fountain |
| County | El Paso County |
| State | Colorado |
| ZIP | 80817 |
| Coordinates | 38.62810, -104.70690 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 247 MW | Operating | 2003 |
| 1 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 154 MW | Operating | 2003 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 154 MW | Operating | 2003 |
| CO₂ | 959.0k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 5 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 252 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 951 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 | Western Area Power Administration - Rocky Mountain Region |
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.