26th largest plant in Ohio · 689th nationally
Middletown Energy Center is a natural gas power plant in Ohio with a nameplate capacity of 544 MW. It generates roughly 3.4M MWh per year — enough to power about 320,293 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 71% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 806 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 (544 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 | Middletown Energy Center |
|---|---|
| Operator | Ohio Power Partners, Llc |
| City | Middletown |
| County | Butler County |
| State | Ohio |
| ZIP | 45044 |
| Coordinates | 39.46500, -84.34778 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MEC1 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 310 MW | Operating | 2018 |
| MEC2 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 234 MW | Operating | 2018 |
| CO₂ | 1.4M metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 7 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 68 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 806 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 | RFC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Pjm Interconnection, Llc |
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.