69th largest plant in Texas · 585th nationally
Sim Gideon is a natural gas power plant in Texas with a nameplate capacity of 623 MW. It generates roughly 1.2M MWh per year — enough to power about 113,877 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 22% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 1295 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 (623 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 | Sim Gideon |
|---|---|
| Operator | Lower Colorado River Authority |
| City | Bastrop |
| County | Bastrop County |
| State | Texas |
| ZIP | 78602 |
| Coordinates | 30.14560, -97.27080 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 351 MW | Operating | 1972 |
| 1 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 136 MW | Operating | 1965 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 136 MW | Operating | 1968 |
| CO₂ | 774.4k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 4 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 900 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1295 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.