88th largest plant in Colorado · 4319th nationally
Fruita is a natural gas power plant in Colorado with a nameplate capacity of 26.6 MW. It generates roughly 33.9k MWh per year — enough to power about 3,233 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 15% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 282 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Fruita |
|---|---|
| Operator | Public Service Co Of Colorado |
| City | Grand Junction |
| County | Mesa County |
| State | Colorado |
| ZIP | 81521 |
| Coordinates | 39.13640, -108.73470 |
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 | 26.6 MW | Operating | 1973 |
| CO₂ | 4.8k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 13 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 282 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.