16th largest plant in North Carolina · 390th nationally
L V Sutton Steam is a natural gas power plant in North Carolina with a nameplate capacity of 851 MW. It generates roughly 3.9M MWh per year — enough to power about 370,486 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 52% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 843 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | L V Sutton Steam |
|---|---|
| Operator | Duke Energy Progress - (Nc) |
| City | Wilmington |
| County | New Hanover County |
| State | North Carolina |
| ZIP | 28401 |
| Coordinates | 34.28306, -77.98528 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Conventional Steam Coal | Bituminous Coal | 447 MW | Retired | 1972 |
| 1 | Conventional Steam Coal | Bituminous Coal | 113 MW | Retired | 1954 |
| 2 | Conventional Steam Coal | Bituminous Coal | 113 MW | Retired | 1955 |
| GTA | Petroleum Liquids | Distillate Oil | 37.5 MW | Retired | 1969 |
| GTB | Petroleum Liquids | Distillate Oil | 37.5 MW | Retired | 1969 |
| GT1 | Petroleum Liquids | Distillate Oil | 16.3 MW | Retired | 1968 |
| CO₂ | 1.6M metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 7 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 572 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 843 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.