4th largest plant in Mississippi · 359th nationally
Jack Watson is a natural gas power plant in Mississippi with a nameplate capacity of 919 MW. It generates roughly 3.3M MWh per year — enough to power about 311,575 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 41% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 1237 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
Ghost bars are each month's theoretical maximum (919 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 | Jack Watson |
|---|---|
| Operator | Mississippi Power Co |
| City | Gulfport |
| County | Harrison County |
| State | Mississippi |
| ZIP | 39501 |
| Coordinates | 30.43920, -89.02860 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 578 MW | Operating | 1973 |
| 4 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 299 MW | Operating | 1968 |
| 3 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 109 MW | Retired | 1962 |
| 1 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 93.8 MW | Retired | 1957 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 93.8 MW | Retired | 1960 |
| A | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 41.9 MW | Operating | 1970 |
| CO₂ | 2.0M metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 10 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 4.1k metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1237 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 | Southern Company Services, Inc. - Trans |
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.