6th largest plant in New Mexico · 854th nationally
Rio Grande is a natural gas power plant in New Mexico with a nameplate capacity of 398 MW. It generates roughly 895.1k MWh per year — enough to power about 85,244 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 26% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1311 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 (398 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 | Rio Grande |
|---|---|
| Operator | El Paso Electric Co |
| City | Sunland Park |
| County | Dona Ana County |
| State | New Mexico |
| ZIP | 88063 |
| Coordinates | 31.80470, -106.54720 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 167 MW | Operating | 1972 |
| 9 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 132 MW | Operating | 2013 |
| 6 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 50.0 MW | Operating | 1957 |
| 7 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 50.0 MW | Operating | 1958 |
| CO₂ | 586.8k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 1 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 969 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1311 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 | El Paso Electric Company |
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.