739th largest plant in Texas · 6496th nationally
Rice University is a natural gas power plant in Texas with a nameplate capacity of 6.9 MW. It generates roughly 18.6k MWh per year — enough to power about 1,769 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 31% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 638 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Rice University |
|---|---|
| Operator | Rice University |
| City | Houston |
| County | Harris County |
| State | Texas |
| ZIP | 77005 |
| Coordinates | 29.72105, -95.39536 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEN2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 3.8 MW | Operating | 1989 |
| GEN1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 3.1 MW | Standby | 1986 |
| CO₂ | 5.9k metric tons |
|---|---|
| NOₓ | 16 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 638 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 | TRE |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Electric Reliability Council Of Texas, 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.