29th largest plant in North Dakota · 2356th nationally
Spiritwood Station is a natural gas power plant in North Dakota with a nameplate capacity of 106 MW. It generates roughly 132.8k MWh per year — enough to power about 12,645 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 14% reflects intermittent or peaking operation. At 933 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 (106 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 | Spiritwood Station |
|---|---|
| Operator | Great River Energy |
| City | Spiritwood |
| County | Stutsman County |
| State | North Dakota |
| ZIP | 58481 |
| Coordinates | 46.92642, -98.49971 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | Natural Gas | 106 MW | Operating | 2014 |
| CO₂ | 61.9k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 1 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 36 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 933 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 | MRO |
|---|---|
| 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.