24th largest plant in Missouri · 1134th nationally
Lake Road (Mo) is a natural gas power plant in Missouri with a nameplate capacity of 278 MW. It generates roughly 51.3k MWh per year — enough to power about 4,881 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 2% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 113 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
Ghost bars are each month's theoretical maximum (278 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 | Lake Road (Mo) |
|---|---|
| Operator | Evergy Missouri West |
| City | St Joseph |
| County | Buchanan County |
| State | Missouri |
| ZIP | 64504 |
| Coordinates | 39.72460, -94.87730 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 90.0 MW | Operating | 1966 |
| 5 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 85.0 MW | Operating | 1974 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 25.0 MW | Operating | 1958 |
| 6 | Petroleum Liquids | Distillate Oil | 24.0 MW | Operating | 1989 |
| 1 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 23.0 MW | Operating | 1950 |
| 7 | Petroleum Liquids | Distillate Oil | 18.9 MW | Operating | 1990 |
| 3 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 12.5 MW | Operating | 1962 |
| CO₂ | 2.9k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 12 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 113 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 | MRO |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Southwest Power Pool |
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.