150th largest plant in California · 1771st nationally
Humboldt Bay is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 167 MW. It generates roughly 426.0k MWh per year — enough to power about 40,568 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 29% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1022 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Humboldt Bay |
|---|---|
| Operator | Pacific Gas & Electric Co. |
| City | Eureka |
| County | Humboldt County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 95503 |
| Coordinates | 40.74150, -124.21030 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ST1 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 51.2 MW | Retired | 1956 |
| ST2 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 51.2 MW | Retired | 1958 |
| IC1 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 16.7 MW | Operating | 2010 |
| IC10 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 16.7 MW | Operating | 2010 |
| IC2 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 16.7 MW | Operating | 2010 |
| IC3 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 16.7 MW | Operating | 2011 |
| IC4 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 16.7 MW | Operating | 2010 |
| IC5 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 16.7 MW | Operating | 2010 |
| IC6 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 16.7 MW | Operating | 2010 |
| IC7 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 16.7 MW | Operating | 2010 |
| IC8 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 16.7 MW | Operating | 2010 |
| IC9 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 16.7 MW | Operating | 2010 |
| CO₂ | 217.7k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 6 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 4.9k metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1022 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 | WECC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | California Independent System Operator |
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.