25th largest plant in North Carolina · 943rd nationally
Hamlet Generating Facility is a natural gas power plant in North Carolina with a nameplate capacity of 344 MW. It generates roughly 76.7k MWh per year — enough to power about 7,308 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 3% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1248 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Hamlet Generating Facility |
|---|---|
| Operator | North Carolina El Member Corp |
| City | Hamlet |
| County | Richmond County |
| State | North Carolina |
| ZIP | 28345 |
| Coordinates | 34.84231, -79.73609 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 57.3 MW | Operating | 2007 |
| ES2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 57.3 MW | Operating | 2007 |
| ES3 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 57.3 MW | Operating | 2007 |
| ES4 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 57.3 MW | Operating | 2007 |
| ES5 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 57.3 MW | Operating | 2007 |
| ES6 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 57.3 MW | Operating | 2013 |
| CO₂ | 47.9k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 36 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1248 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 | Duke Energy Progress East |
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.