9th largest plant in Louisiana · 317th nationally
St. Charles Power Station (La) is a natural gas power plant in Louisiana with a nameplate capacity of 1,000 MW. It generates roughly 5.1M MWh per year — enough to power about 481,854 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 58% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 845 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 (1,000 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 | St. Charles Power Station (La) |
|---|---|
| Operator | Entergy Louisiana Llc |
| City | La Place |
| County | St Charles County |
| State | Louisiana |
| ZIP | 70068 |
| Coordinates | 30.01000, -90.46083 |
This plant highlighted in navy-ringed pin; other generators within 25 miles shown as fuel-colored dots.
| ID | Technology | Fuel | Capacity | Status | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1C | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 500 MW | Operating | 2019 |
| 1A | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 250 MW | Operating | 2019 |
| 1B | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 250 MW | Operating | 2019 |
| CO₂ | 2.1M metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 11 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 144 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 845 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 | SERC |
|---|---|
| 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.