281st largest plant in California · 2658th nationally
South Belridge Cogeneration Facility is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 94.2 MW. It generates roughly 427.4k MWh per year — enough to power about 40,702 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 52% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 679 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | South Belridge Cogeneration Facility |
|---|---|
| Operator | Aera Energy Llc |
| City | Mckittrick |
| County | Kern County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 93251 |
| Coordinates | 35.43861, -119.70750 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEN1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 31.4 MW | Operating | 1985 |
| GEN2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 31.4 MW | Operating | 1985 |
| GEN3 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 31.4 MW | Operating | 1986 |
| CO₂ | 145.1k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 4 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 397 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 679 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 | California Independent System Operator |
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.