55th largest plant in Iowa · 1832nd nationally
Sycamore (Ia) is a natural gas power plant in Iowa with a nameplate capacity of 158 MW. It generates roughly 10.7k MWh per year — enough to power about 1,015 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 1% reflects intermittent or peaking operation.
| Plant Name | Sycamore (Ia) |
|---|---|
| Operator | Midamerican Energy Co |
| City | Johnston |
| County | Polk County |
| State | Iowa |
| ZIP | 50131 |
| Coordinates | 41.67220, -93.67690 |
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 Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 78.8 MW | Operating | 1974 |
| 2 | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | Natural Gas | 78.8 MW | Operating | 1974 |
| NOₓ | 34 metric tons |
|---|
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.