968th largest plant in California · 6987th nationally
Mission College Blvd. Fuel Cell is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 5.0 MW. It generates roughly 38.2k MWh per year — enough to power about 3,633 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 87% means it runs nearly around-the-clock as baseload generation.
| Plant Name | Mission College Blvd. Fuel Cell |
|---|---|
| Operator | 2016 Esa Project Company, Llc |
| City | Santa Clara |
| County | Santa Clara County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 95054 |
| Coordinates | 37.38633, -121.96238 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NTL3B | Other Natural Gas | Natural Gas | 2.6 MW | Operating | 2017 |
| NTL3A | Other Natural Gas | Natural Gas | 2.4 MW | Operating | 2017 |
| 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.