153rd largest plant in Minnesota · 6134th nationally
Redwood Falls is a natural gas power plant in Minnesota with a nameplate capacity of 8.5 MW. It generates roughly 880 MWh per year — enough to power about 83 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 1% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 602 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Redwood Falls |
|---|---|
| Operator | Redwood Falls Public Util Comm |
| City | Redwood Falls |
| County | Redwood County |
| State | Minnesota |
| ZIP | 56283 |
| Coordinates | 44.54310, -95.11780 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | Natural Gas | 5.8 MW | Operating | 1974 |
| 6 | Petroleum Liquids | Distillate Oil | 2.2 MW | Operating | 1970 |
| 1 | Conventional Hydroelectric | Water | 0.5 MW | Retired | 1930 |
| 8 | Conventional Hydroelectric | Water | 0.5 MW | Operating | 2013 |
| CO₂ | 265 metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 6 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 602 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.