197th largest plant in California · 2075th nationally
King City Power Plant is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 133 MW. It generates roughly 56.4k MWh per year — enough to power about 5,369 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 5% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 932 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 (133 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 | King City Power Plant |
|---|---|
| Operator | Calpine King City Cogen Llc |
| City | King City |
| County | Monterey County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 93930 |
| Coordinates | 36.22500, -121.12780 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GTG | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 90.8 MW | Operating | 1989 |
| STG | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 42.4 MW | Operating | 1989 |
| CO₂ | 26.3k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 24 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 932 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.