22nd largest plant in Virginia · 838th nationally
Gravel Neck is a natural gas power plant in Virginia with a nameplate capacity of 408 MW. It generates roughly 89.3k MWh per year — enough to power about 8,504 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 2% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1575 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Gravel Neck |
|---|---|
| Operator | Virginia Electric & Power Co |
| City | Surry |
| County | Surry County |
| State | Virginia |
| ZIP | 23883 |
| Coordinates | 37.15750, -76.69110 |
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 Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 91.9 MW | Operating | 1989 |
| 4 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 91.9 MW | Operating | 1989 |
| 5 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 91.9 MW | Operating | 1989 |
| 6 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 91.9 MW | Operating | 1989 |
| 2 | Petroleum Liquids | Distillate Oil | 23.8 MW | Operating | 1970 |
| 1 | Petroleum Liquids | Distillate Oil | 16.3 MW | Operating | 1970 |
| CO₂ | 70.3k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 4 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 107 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1575 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 | 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.