412th largest plant in California · 3658th nationally
Rockwood is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 49.8 MW. It generates roughly 3.9k MWh per year — enough to power about 372 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 1% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1948 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Rockwood |
|---|---|
| Operator | Imperial Irrigation District |
| City | Brawley |
| County | Imperial County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 92227 |
| Coordinates | 32.95530, -115.53640 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 24.9 MW | Operating | 1979 |
| 2 | Petroleum Liquids | Distillate Oil | 24.9 MW | Operating | 1980 |
| CO₂ | 3.8k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 7 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 8 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1948 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 | Imperial Irrigation District |
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.