47th largest plant in California · 809th nationally
Panoche Energy Center is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 432 MW. It generates roughly 654.3k MWh per year — enough to power about 62,311 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 17% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1096 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Panoche Energy Center |
|---|---|
| Operator | Panoche Energy Center, Llc |
| City | Firebaugh |
| County | Fresno County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 93662 |
| Coordinates | 36.65140, -120.58330 |
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 Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 108 MW | Operating | 2009 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 108 MW | Operating | 2009 |
| 3 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 108 MW | Operating | 2009 |
| 4 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 108 MW | Operating | 2009 |
| CO₂ | 358.4k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 2 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 31 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1096 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.