6th largest plant in California · 141st nationally
Ormond Beach is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 1,612 MW. It generates roughly 256.7k MWh per year — enough to power about 24,451 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 2% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1408 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 (1,612 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 | Ormond Beach |
|---|---|
| Operator | Ormond Beach Power, Llc |
| City | Oxnard |
| County | Ventura County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 93033 |
| Coordinates | 34.12920, -119.16890 |
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 | 806 MW | Operating | 1971 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 806 MW | Operating | 1973 |
| CO₂ | 180.7k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 1 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 11 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1408 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 | California Independent System Operator |
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.