76th largest plant in New York · 2717th nationally
Rensselaer Cogen is a natural gas power plant in New York with a nameplate capacity of 88.2 MW. It generates roughly 24.7k MWh per year — enough to power about 2,355 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 3% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1058 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 (88.2 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 | Rensselaer Cogen |
|---|---|
| Operator | Rensselaer Generating Llc |
| City | Rensselaer |
| County | Rensselaer County |
| State | New York |
| ZIP | 12144 |
| Coordinates | 42.62532, -73.74995 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEN1 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 49.2 MW | Operating | 1994 |
| GEN2 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 39.0 MW | Operating | 1994 |
| CO₂ | 13.1k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 3 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1058 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 | NPCC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | New York Independent System Operator |
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.