191st largest plant in Iowa · 6987th nationally
Poet Biorefining - Gowrie is a natural gas power plant in Iowa with a nameplate capacity of 5.0 MW. It generates roughly 17.9k MWh per year — enough to power about 1,707 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 41% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 730 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
Ghost bars are each month's theoretical maximum (5.0 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 | Poet Biorefining - Gowrie |
|---|---|
| Operator | Poet Biorefining - Gowrie |
| City | Gowrie |
| County | Webster County |
| State | Iowa |
| ZIP | 50543 |
| Coordinates | 42.31982, -94.28735 |
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 | 5.0 MW | Operating | 2018 |
| CO₂ | 6.5k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 9 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 730 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.