51st largest plant in Louisiana · 2812th nationally
Shell Chemical is a natural gas power plant in Louisiana with a nameplate capacity of 80.0 MW. It generates roughly 560.4k MWh per year — enough to power about 53,371 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 80% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 614 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Shell Chemical |
|---|---|
| Operator | Shell Chemical Lp - Geismar |
| City | Geismar |
| County | Ascension County |
| State | Louisiana |
| ZIP | 70734 |
| Coordinates | 30.18751, -90.98396 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 101G | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 40.0 MW | Operating | 2002 |
| 201G | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 40.0 MW | Operating | 2002 |
| CO₂ | 172.0k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 5 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 471 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 614 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 | SERC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Midcontinent Independent Transmission System Operator, 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.