141st largest plant in California · 1721st nationally
Spa Cogen 3 is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 174 MW. It generates roughly 616.3k MWh per year — enough to power about 58,695 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 40% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 970 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 (174 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 | Spa Cogen 3 |
|---|---|
| Operator | Sacramento Municipal Util Dist |
| City | Sacramento |
| County | Sacramento County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 95824 |
| Coordinates | 38.51100, -121.47350 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CCCT | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 119 MW | Operating | 1997 |
| CCST | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 55.2 MW | Operating | 1997 |
| Owner | Location | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Sacramenta Power Authority | Sacramento, CA | 10000.0% |
Ownership reported to EIA Form 860. Percentages reflect reported generator-level ownership share, averaged when a plant has multiple generators.
| CO₂ | 298.9k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 2 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 23 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 970 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 | Balancing Authority Of Northern California |
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.