57th largest plant in Texas · 471st nationally
Nueces Bay is a natural gas power plant in Texas with a nameplate capacity of 730 MW. It generates roughly 1.1M MWh per year — enough to power about 101,565 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 17% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 923 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 (730 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 | Nueces Bay |
|---|---|
| Operator | City Of San Antonio - (Tx) |
| City | Corpus Christi |
| County | Nueces County |
| State | Texas |
| ZIP | 78403 |
| Coordinates | 27.81941, -97.41920 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 351 MW | Operating | 1972 |
| 8 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 190 MW | Operating | 2010 |
| 9 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 190 MW | Operating | 2010 |
| 6 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 180 MW | Retired | 1965 |
| 5 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 32.5 MW | Retired | 1949 |
| CO₂ | 492.1k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 2 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 74 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 923 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 | TRE |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Electric Reliability Council Of Texas, Inc. |
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.