67th largest plant in Louisiana · 4135th nationally
Lake Charles Polymers is a natural gas power plant in Louisiana with a nameplate capacity of 31.1 MW. It generates roughly 181.4k MWh per year — enough to power about 17,273 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 67% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 1284 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Lake Charles Polymers |
|---|---|
| Operator | Equistar Chemicals Lp |
| City | Westlake |
| County | Calcasieu County |
| State | Louisiana |
| ZIP | 70669 |
| Coordinates | 30.19657, -93.32197 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G-900 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 14.3 MW | Operating | 2011 |
| G-901 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 8.4 MW | Operating | 2011 |
| G-902 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 8.4 MW | Operating | 2011 |
| CO₂ | 116.4k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 3 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 1.1k metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1284 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 | Midcontinent Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc.. |
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.