81st largest plant in Texas · 653rd nationally
Sweeny Cogen Facility is a natural gas power plant in Texas with a nameplate capacity of 572 MW. It generates roughly 2.3M MWh per year — enough to power about 220,032 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 46% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 767 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Sweeny Cogen Facility |
|---|---|
| Operator | Sweeny Cogeneration Llc |
| City | Old Ocean |
| County | Brazoria County |
| State | Texas |
| ZIP | 77463 |
| Coordinates | 29.07280, -95.74500 |
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 | 143 MW | Operating | 1997 |
| GEN2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 143 MW | Operating | 1997 |
| GEN3 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 143 MW | Operating | 1997 |
| GEN4 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 143 MW | Operating | 2000 |
| CO₂ | 885.8k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 4 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 89 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 767 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 | TRE |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | Electric Reliability Council Of Texas, 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.