126th largest plant in Illinois · 3988th nationally
Princeton (Il) is a natural gas power plant in Illinois with a nameplate capacity of 37.9 MW. It generates roughly 1.0k MWh per year — enough to power about 97 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 0% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 98997 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Princeton (Il) |
|---|---|
| Operator | City Of Princeton - (Il) |
| City | Princeton |
| County | Bureau County |
| State | Illinois |
| ZIP | 61356 |
| Coordinates | 41.37553, -89.46487 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 8.8 MW | Standby | 1976 |
| 7 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 7.0 MW | Standby | 1976 |
| 6 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 5.6 MW | Standby | 1971 |
| 5 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 4.4 MW | Standby | 1971 |
| 3 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 3.4 MW | Standby | 1965 |
| 4 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 3.4 MW | Standby | 1965 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 3.0 MW | Standby | 1958 |
| 1 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 2.3 MW | Standby | 1953 |
| CO₂ | 50.6k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 1 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 1.1k metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 98997 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 | SERC |
|---|---|
| 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.