161st largest plant in Virginia · 6283rd nationally
Georgia-Pacific Big Island is a natural gas power plant in Virginia with a nameplate capacity of 7.9 MW. It generates roughly 50.6k MWh per year — enough to power about 4,814 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 73% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time.
Ghost bars are each month's theoretical maximum (7.9 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 | Georgia-Pacific Big Island |
|---|---|
| Operator | Gp Big Island Llc |
| City | Big Island |
| County | Bedford County |
| State | Virginia |
| ZIP | 24526 |
| Coordinates | 37.53400, -79.35700 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEN1 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 7.5 MW | Operating | 1965 |
| BHG1 | Conventional Hydroelectric | Water | 0.2 MW | Operating | 1920 |
| BHG2 | Conventional Hydroelectric | Water | 0.2 MW | Operating | 1920 |
| NOₓ | 10 metric tons |
|---|
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 | RFC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Pjm Interconnection, Llc |
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.