42nd largest plant in Pennsylvania · 909th nationally
New Castle Plant is a natural gas power plant in Pennsylvania with a nameplate capacity of 354 MW. It generates roughly 898.1k MWh per year — enough to power about 85,537 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 29% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1339 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 (354 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 | New Castle Plant |
|---|---|
| Operator | New Castle Power, Llc |
| City | West Pittsburg |
| County | Lawrence County |
| State | Pennsylvania |
| ZIP | 16160 |
| Coordinates | 40.93794, -80.36901 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 136 MW | Operating | 1964 |
| 4 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 114 MW | Operating | 1958 |
| 3 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 98.0 MW | Operating | 1952 |
| 1 | Conventional Steam Coal | Bituminous Coal | 35.0 MW | Retired | 1939 |
| 2 | Conventional Steam Coal | Bituminous Coal | 35.0 MW | Retired | 1947 |
| EMDA | Petroleum Liquids | Distillate Oil | 3.2 MW | Operating | 1968 |
| EMDB | Petroleum Liquids | Distillate Oil | 3.2 MW | Out of Service | 1968 |
| CO₂ | 601.4k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 3 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 348 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1339 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.