377th largest plant in California · 3422nd nationally
Thums is a natural gas power plant in California with a nameplate capacity of 57.4 MW. It generates roughly 286.0k MWh per year — enough to power about 27,240 average U.S. homes.
Its capacity factor of 57% puts it in the middle range — running steadily but not full-time. At 1275 lb CO₂/MWh, its emission rate sits above the national grid average of roughly 800 lb/MWh.
| Plant Name | Thums |
|---|---|
| Operator | Thums Long Beach Company |
| City | Long Beach |
| County | Los Angeles County |
| State | California |
| ZIP | 90802 |
| Coordinates | 33.76840, -118.21410 |
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 | 57.4 MW | Operating | 2003 |
| CO₂ | 182.3k metric tons |
|---|---|
| SO₂ | 5 metric tons |
| NOₓ | 499 metric tons |
| CO₂ Rate | 1275 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 | WECC |
|---|---|
| Balancing Authority | California Independent System Operator |
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.