106th largest plant in California · 1324th nationally
Midway Sunset Cogen is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 234 MW. It generates roughly 160.7k MWh per year — enough to power about 15,308 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 8% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 595 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Midway Sunset Cogen |
|---|---|
| Operator | Midway-Sunset Cogeneration Co |
| City | Fellows |
| County | Kern County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 93224 |
| Coordinates | 35.22690, -119.62940 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 78.0 MW | Operating | 1989 |
| B | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 78.0 MW | Operating | 1989 |
| C | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 78.0 MW | Operating | 1989 |
| Owner | Location | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Aera Energy Llc | Bakersfield, CA | 5000.0% |
| San Joaquin Energy Co | Princeton, NJ | 5000.0% |
Ownership reported to EIA Form 860. Percentages reflect reported generator-level ownership share, averaged when a plant has multiple generators.
| CO₂ | 47.8k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 1 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 131 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 595 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.