90th largest plant in Texas · 710th nationally
Montana Power Station is a natural gas power plant in Texas with a nameplate capacity of 527 MW. It generates roughly 1.2M MWh per year — enough to power about 117,255 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 27% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1090 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Montana Power Station |
|---|---|
| Operator | El Paso Electric Co |
| City | El Paso |
| County | El Paso County |
| State | Texas |
| ZIP | 79938 |
| Coordinates | 31.82389, -106.21194 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GT-1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 132 MW | Operating | 2015 |
| GT-2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 132 MW | Operating | 2015 |
| GT-3 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 132 MW | Operating | 2016 |
| GT-4 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 132 MW | Operating | 2016 |
| CO₂ | 671.3k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 3 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 65 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1090 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 | El Paso Electric Company |
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.