533rd largest plant in California · 4147th nationally
Southeast Kern River Cogen is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 30.8 MW. It generates roughly 90.8k MWh per year — enough to power about 8,652 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 34% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 639 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Southeast Kern River Cogen |
|---|---|
| Operator | Chevron Usa Inc |
| City | Bakersfield |
| County | Kern County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 93308 |
| Coordinates | 35.42060, -118.96440 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GTG1 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 24.0 MW | Operating | 1989 |
| GTG2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 3.4 MW | Out of Service | 1989 |
| GTG3 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 3.4 MW | Out of Service | 1989 |
| CO₂ | 29.0k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 1 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 79 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 639 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.