44th largest plant in Texas · 375th nationally
O W Sommers is a natural gas power plant in Texas with a nameplate capacity of 892 MW. It generates roughly 1.9M MWh per year — enough to power about 181,409 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 24% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1304 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 (892 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 | O W Sommers |
|---|---|
| Operator | City Of San Antonio - (Tx) |
| City | San Antonio |
| County | Bexar County |
| State | Texas |
| ZIP | 78263 |
| Coordinates | 29.30806, -98.32420 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 446 MW | Operating | 1972 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 446 MW | Operating | 1974 |
| CO₂ | 1.2M metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 6 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 1.6k metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1304 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.