80th largest plant in Texas · 651st nationally
Thomas C Ferguson is a natural gas power plant in Texas with a nameplate capacity of 575 MW. It generates roughly 3.8M MWh per year — enough to power about 359,460 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 75% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 792 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits below the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
Ghost bars are each month's theoretical maximum (575 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 | Thomas C Ferguson |
|---|---|
| Operator | Lower Colorado River Authority |
| City | Horseshoe Bay |
| County | Llano County |
| State | Texas |
| ZIP | 78654 |
| Coordinates | 30.55800, -98.37210 |
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 | 446 MW | Retired | 1974 |
| STG | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 204 MW | Operating | 2014 |
| CT-1 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 185 MW | Operating | 2014 |
| CT-2 | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | Natural Gas | 185 MW | Operating | 2014 |
| Owner | Location | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Lower Colorado River Authority | Austin, TX | 9648.0% |
| City Of San Marcos - (Tx) | San Marcos, TX | 352.0% |
Ownership reported to EIA Form 860. Percentages reflect reported generator-level ownership share, averaged when a plant has multiple generators.
| CO₂ | 1.5M metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 8 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 70 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 792 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.