9th largest plant in Mississippi · 396th nationally
Ratcliffe is a natural gas power plant in Mississippi with a nameplate capacity of 840 MW. It generates roughly 3.7M MWh per year — enough to power about 352,786 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 50% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 876 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
Ghost bars are each month's theoretical maximum (840 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 | Ratcliffe |
|---|---|
| Operator | Mississippi Power Co |
| City | De Kalb |
| County | Kemper County |
| State | Mississippi |
| ZIP | 39328 |
| Coordinates | 32.65472, -88.76222 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1C | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 369 MW | Operating | 2014 |
| 1A | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 236 MW | Operating | 2014 |
| 1B | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 236 MW | Operating | 2014 |
| CO₂ | 1.6M metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 8 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 145 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 876 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 | Southern Company Services, Inc. - Trans |
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.