47th largest plant in Iowa · 1687th nationally
Pleasant Hill is a natural gas power plant in Iowa with a nameplate capacity of 180 MW. It generates roughly 16.8k MWh per year — enough to power about 1,603 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 1% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 872 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Pleasant Hill |
|---|---|
| Operator | Midamerican Energy Co |
| City | Pleasant Hill |
| County | Polk County |
| State | Iowa |
| ZIP | 50317 |
| Coordinates | 41.55720, -93.52420 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 97.0 MW | Operating | 1994 |
| 1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 41.4 MW | Operating | 1990 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 41.4 MW | Operating | 1990 |
| CO₂ | 7.3k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 26 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 872 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 | MRO |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Midcontinent Independent Transmission System Operator, 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.