142nd largest plant in California · 1722nd nationally
Richmond Cogen is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 174 MW. It generates roughly 912.3k MWh per year — enough to power about 86,886 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 60% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 601 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
Ghost bars are each month's theoretical maximum (174 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 | Richmond Cogen |
|---|---|
| Operator | Chevron Products Company-Richmond |
| City | Richmond |
| County | Contra Costa County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 94802 |
| Coordinates | 37.94180, -122.39090 |
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 | 62.6 MW | Operating | 1992 |
| GEN2 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 62.6 MW | Operating | 1992 |
| GEN3 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 43.0 MW | Cancelled | — |
| GEN5 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 30.4 MW | Operating | 2006 |
| GEN6 | All Other | WH | 17.9 MW | Operating | 2019 |
| CO₂ | 274.3k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 1 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 582 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 601 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 | WECC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | California 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.