22nd largest plant in Kansas · 1192nd nationally
Garden City is a natural gas power plant in Kansas with a nameplate capacity of 256 MW. It generates roughly 79.5k MWh per year — enough to power about 7,575 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 4% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 876 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 (256 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 | Garden City |
|---|---|
| Operator | Sunflower Electric Power Corp |
| City | Garden City |
| County | Finney County |
| State | Kansas |
| ZIP | 67846 |
| Coordinates | 37.97030, -100.89560 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S2 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 97.9 MW | Operating | 1973 |
| S4 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 71.2 MW | Operating | 1976 |
| S5 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 71.2 MW | Operating | 1979 |
| S3 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 16.0 MW | Standby | 1968 |
| GC3 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 11.5 MW | Retired | 1962 |
| CO₂ | 34.9k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 97 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 876 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 | MRO |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Southwest Power Pool |
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.