112th largest plant in New Mexico · 8066th nationally
New Mexico State University is a natural gas power plant in New Mexico with a nameplate capacity of 4.7 MW. It generates roughly 29.6k MWh per year — enough to power about 2,822 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 72% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 710 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | New Mexico State University |
|---|---|
| Operator | New Mexico State University |
| City | Las Cruces |
| County | Dona Ana County |
| State | New Mexico |
| ZIP | 88001 |
| Coordinates | 32.16482, -106.45128 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 4.7 MW | Operating | 1996 |
| CO₂ | 10.5k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 29 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 710 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.