889th largest plant in California · 6462nd nationally
Lost Hills Cogeneration Plant is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 7.0 MW. It generates roughly 2.6k MWh per year — enough to power about 249 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 4% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 766 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Lost Hills Cogeneration Plant |
|---|---|
| Operator | Aera Energy Llc |
| City | Lost Hills |
| County | Kern County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 93251 |
| Coordinates | 35.66611, -119.76694 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEN4 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 3.5 MW | Retired | 1985 |
| GEN5 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 3.5 MW | Operating | 1985 |
| GEN6 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 3.5 MW | Operating | 1985 |
| CO₂ | 1.0k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 3 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 766 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.