841st largest plant in California · 5990th nationally
P Plant is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 9.2 MW. It generates roughly 32.7k MWh per year — enough to power about 3,116 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 41% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 771 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | P Plant |
|---|---|
| Operator | Qualcomm Incorporated |
| City | San Diego |
| County | San Diego County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 92121 |
| Coordinates | 32.89472, -117.19806 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P-TG4 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 4.6 MW | Out of Service | 2007 |
| P-TG5 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 4.6 MW | Retired | 2015 |
| CO₂ | 12.6k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 35 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 771 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.