337th largest plant in Texas · 1698th nationally
San Jacinto Steam Electric Station is a natural gas power plant in Texas with a nameplate capacity of 176 MW. It generates roughly 716.0k MWh per year — enough to power about 68,191 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 46% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 1635 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | San Jacinto Steam Electric Station |
|---|---|
| Operator | Nrg Texas Power Llc |
| City | La Porte |
| County | Harris County |
| State | Texas |
| ZIP | 77571 |
| Coordinates | 29.69484, -95.04062 |
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 | 88.2 MW | Operating | 1995 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 88.2 MW | Operating | 1995 |
| CO₂ | 585.4k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 3 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 98 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1635 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.