110th largest plant in Illinois · 2915th nationally
Granite City Works is a natural gas power plant in Illinois with a nameplate capacity of 78.0 MW. It generates roughly 538.9k MWh per year — enough to power about 51,327 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 79% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 521 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
Ghost bars are each month's theoretical maximum (78.0 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 | Granite City Works |
|---|---|
| Operator | United States Steel Granite City Works |
| City | Granite City |
| County | Madison County |
| State | Illinois |
| ZIP | 62040 |
| Coordinates | 38.69720, -90.12830 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G-1 | All Other | Purchased | 78.0 MW | Operating | 2010 |
| CO₂ | 140.5k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 49 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 521 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 | SERC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Midcontinent Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc.. |
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.